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Keewech Laboratory
HISTORY OF PROJECT CIRRUS
Compiled by Barrington S. Havens
Public Relations Services Division
Report No. RL-756 July 1952
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GENERAL @@ ELECTRIC
Kecewuk Libovalty
REPORT NO, RL-756
HISTORY OF PROJECT CIRRUS
Compiled by Barrington 8. Havens
Public Relations Services Division
July 1952
Published by
Research Publication Services
The Knolls
Schenectady, New York
FOR USE OF G-E EMPLOYEES ONLY
GENERAL @@ ELECTRIC
Reseach Labowliy
SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK
TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERIES
Title Page
AUTHOR SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION No.
Havens, RL-756
q DATE
Barrington S. meteorology July 1952
TITLE Tapes ae
History of Project Cirrus
ABSTRACT
Project Cirrus, initiated on February 28, 1947 under
Contract W-36-039-sc-32427, requisition EDG 21190, was
established to cover ‘‘research study of cloud particles an
cloud modifications.’’ Project Cirrus continued through th
life of several government contracts, ending in 1952. A
history of the project covers not only the work done under
G.E. CLASS REPRODUCIBLE COPY FILED AT NO. PAGES
ae Seen Lae Research Publication
; Services 105
BSNCLUSIGNS° Sq o> sag Tai. Sk ee ee
history of the project covers not only the work done under
government contract but also the work of General Electric
scientists for many years leading up to the establishment
of the project.
By cutting out this rectangle and folding on the center line, the above information can be fitted
into a standard card file.
INFORMATION PREPARED FOR Research Laboratory
TESTS MADE BY.
COUNTERSIGNED DIV.
DIVISIONS LOCATION.
FN-610-IM-RL (2-50)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
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Ti = Warly HiStOry oocccencnc soc ecscecsenccsnescte see 3
Gas Masks & Smoke FiltersS ......0cesceerssoee
Smoke Generators ...-cecccerrcees Sistas altancuatiare)e
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INU CSeNNe Whchbalee oie eh eror cco Gaeta coke lacelecetcyeienee oi a=te
Cloud Studies at Mt. Washington......-....6- shiv
INMEGICENICY GRA Ga pea connote anc cs ial atevatter ene ei
Schaefer’s Cold Box......-- Bese ai ray Tassel ee vat steel sie
Vonnegut’s Early Work - Cloud Studies au Moye an.
Shicemeoolhiie han csAmecook: Sos AIO ERC ee ROR os eats
Supercooling of Metals ....2c-cecscorserererees :
Nucleation StudieS ....cccesccecsercossrceeces :
Sbvers HOHE s 2 A Rowe gue oe ee, Ret eas ott Pelieyenltette
Langmuir’s Early Seeding Calculations ......---
First Man-made Snowstorm. ...+.--++«- coalesacuauenate
Other Early Flights....... Bee areata cae Re case etree aes
Establishment of Project CirruS ....-cescsesers
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Silver Iodide Generators ...cccscresceecscere
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Flight Instruments ...cccccccrscseasocrscree
‘e\WWeather’’? InstrumentS .....cc2ccceccrrcsoes
GillouGdaieter:: cs <a sts LN ge NC A PE A oP Ue
Condensation Nuclei Detector....cccrccerccrce
Vortex Thermometer ....2ccscceccscscarccecee
Vortex Speed Indicator.....ccccccccscccracee
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fee Nuclel DEveG LOM Si etstecets overeccieteveccenneckenst «iste tepeps
Uniform Particle: Generatorncccmtsece cise ensenens
Sal itePartichesDSteGTor se c.cce che rove oueralermcarehsr sueuezes
ClOUGL@HaAMb Stroh ieeacu: coos ater cr cieseeononacdebstevensesmeackens
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Chemicals Miteetses setae waite eee yen neers
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Blecinieal PHEnOmen ays i cratecctersiavtensr sues ote eta ote eters :
Workman=Reynolds Pitect... 25.2% ccc ie ae 216 0s 5
Bilectirica ly ATO mtZatl On. sisi sc csenetelene bev aatoue uate
EUG, Of-C LOUd@Ry DES usr. cs wc ahaestetoueder son oe coteteeemcaens
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WAGKE -S IEDR AOAINYS Ge JCIESSIE ISOS CAE aan codcoGn Eco omsOoUcDoUn
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(OJOEKPAIOUOIA INC Sad gochoc oo Sco o 40 b> Cobo nu Ue ODe ono
IX - Co-operation with Other ProjectS ........-.2+-+sse+-ee.
Pineapple Research Institute, Honolulu, Hawaii......
Milliken & Farwell, Mobile, Alabama...............
Uinitbacl emis Cormajoeiony; Islomelmrs 225 62556h556o5e505-
‘New Work City Water Shortage. 250. .2 2s eset eee
Commercial Seeding in the WeSt............--22-----
Worle oi Ouner Gowvemayaneias socsqccbosncsGoscoudomuo
K co ComeluSiOn soacocnovoscccon sooo Dood Gun eOnDOD oO GOnKON
OST URS SUES anos rice ueewaterecel cis teakaneione: ons keeey lage romsteyal«
Widespread Weather Modification ........-.-..0+6-
Modifying Orographic Clouds .......-..--+ss0+-e-
Producing Regions of Ice Nuclei................--
Modifying Stratiform CloudS..........-.++.sse+ee-
Modifying Supercooled Ground Fogs ........-+-+:.
PrQOUACSuloia, Cie JAVMCIGENES 6 also OU oOODo Kd OGD BOO UTCOou4
Modifying Orographic Thunderstorms .........-..
Modifying Towering Cumulus ..........+--+-e+eee:
Preventing Hail... 52. oct et ee ee eee sens
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Appendices
I
II
III
IV
Alphabetical List of Personnel ...........-.--
Hepsi Cala MIR SUS oye tesen eee atcltatel(ei'e letatiel = far -ueuey “cot -Jaiol shoxevore) =
Ground Operations..... SPR OT CLG RC Gc ONCE
Bibliography of Reference Literature .........
PROJECT CIRRUS HISTORY
I - INTRODUCTION
This history of Project Cirrus was prepared at the request of the
Research Laboratory for three reasons. First of all, the project has been--
and still is, at this writing--of such unusual interest and significance, that
the telling of the story is merited for its own sake. Secondly, the termina-
tion of the project is bound to result in an eventual dispersal of the various
members of its personnel. Already Dr. Langmuir has retired from active
General Electric employ, and the other members of the project are, and
will be, more and more engaged in new and completely different activities.
And finally, the broad aspects of the project have such wide implications that
it is particularly important that the story be committed to paper ‘for the
record’’,
It has not been easy to organize the raw material in any simple, logical
fashion. As is so often the case, the project was very complex, with a num-
ber of subdivisions associated with the main activity. Some of these subdi-
visions ran consecutively, some operated in parallel, and others intertwined
or branched off in variously divergent directions.
Where it was possible the material has been arranged in chronological
or otherwise logical order. Where it was not possible, the various subor-
dinate topics have been taken up in as nearly a logical order as possible. As
a result, cases will be found where the story “‘gets ahead of itself”’, and
later it becomes necessary to retrace one’s steps to pick up the thread.
The history, with the exception of the Introduction and Conclusion,
divides itself naturally into two main parts. The first is the story of the
early activities which led to the formation of Project Cirrus. The second
is the story of Project Cirrus itself.
Schenectady, New York — B.S. Havens
July, 1952
Il - EARLY HISTORY
It would be difficult, if not impossible, to trace the complete lineage
of everything leading up to Project Cirrus. General Electric scientists were
not the only ones who studied many of the problems involved. And even when
restricting consideration to General Electric research projects, the situa-
tion is complicated.
The following material is confined as much as possible to work which
has a relatively direct bearing on Project Cirrus research.
GAS MASKS & SMOKE FILTERS
The earliest activity leading directly to Project Cirrus was the study,
beginning in 1940, of the fundamental nature of filtration in gas masks. This
work was undertaken by Dr. Irving Langmuir ens Dr. Vincent J. Schaefer at
the request of the Chemical Warfare Service. 12)
‘Gas masks normally use charcoal to absorb poison gases, but even in
World War I the possibility arose that the enemy might use toxic smokes
which could not be absorbed by charcoal and thus would have to be removed
by.a filter somewhat like filter paper.
The first step in attacking the problem was to make some smokes of
the type for which the filters would be used. In doing so, the scientists stud-
ied the particles which composed the smokes. They investigated such things
as particle stability, concentration, and measurement. They obtained fairly
successful theoretical results and a better understanding of how to build a
good filter. And incidentally, they acquired a great deat of detailed know-
ledge as to how to make a smoke which would be non-volatile and would con-
sist of particles far smaller than those of ordinary smokes, and they learned
much about optical properties.
This work was done under a National Defense Research Committee
contract. As Langmuir and Schaefer neared the end of the work, a form
letter was received in August, 1941, asking if anyone could think of a way
to make a white screening smoke that could be used over large areas to
cut down the hazard from aerial bombardment.
SMOKE GENERATORS
Langmuir and Schaefer wondered whether they couldn’t do this by
using the methods they had adopted for making smokes for testing filters.
They decided to try.
They had found that the easiest way to make smokes and control the
particle size was to take some oil and put it into a volatile condition. They
Early History -4-
heated oleic acid and similar substances up to about 200°C and passed a
stream of air over them to get the vapor mixed with air. Then they quenched
the mixture suddenly by blowing in a large amount of cold’ air. The parti->
cles grew in size and by sudden quenching they found they could stop the
growth at any desired point and also make particles of very small size.
They were surprised to find that, under certain conditions, they could get
particles of extraordinarily uniform size.
Further work and experimentation showed thatthey could do the same
thing on a large scale. Larger generators were built, tests were made, and
the design was adopted by the Army and used successfully and on a large
scale curing the war. :
PRECIPITATION STATIC
Quite independently of this work the Secretary of War asked in 1948
for research into the problems of precipitation static.(12) It was believed
that the invasion by Japan would have to come very largely from air attacks
through the Aleutian Islands, across Alaska, and from the North. That led to
a tremendous development of air transport and airplanes through the Aleutians.
The difficulty in flying aircraft in the Aleutians was very serious. One
of the big problems was icing of the aircraft, but even more baffling was the
complete loss of radio contact when the planes flew through snowstorms. The
planes might become charged, sometimes, to a potential of 250,000 volts or
more, producing corona discharges from all parts of the plane and causing such
electrical disturbances that radio sets could not receive messages. Pilots had
particular difficulty in finding their bases and getting down through this foggy
bad weather. What could be done about it?
Langmuir and Schaefer were interested. They had no particular ideas
on the subject, except that it had to do with weather. In their opinion, the best
place to investigate something like that was the well-equipped laboratory of the
Mt. Washington Observatory on top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire.
Mount Washington in winter has an average temperature of minus four
or five degrees F, the wind averages about 60 miles per hour, and most of the
time clouds sweep over the summit. It seemed to offer the proper conditions -
for a research of this kind.
So equipment was installed at the summit, and Schaefer went there. sev-
eral times during the winter of 1943 to conduct experiments. But he discov-
ered that anything exposed there during the winter immediately became cov-
ered with ice, because the air was full of supercooled water droplets. He and
Langmuir became So much interested in this that they hoped they would not
have to continue a long study of precipitation static.
Early History aie
In the course of this work, Schaefer relied heavily on the services
of Raymond E. Falconer, who was then one of the observers in the weather
station on the summit.
AIRCRAFT ICING
It So happened that the Army Air Forces were just as much interested
in problems of aircraft icing as in precipitation static. This fitted in so well
with the new interest of ae and Schaefer that in 1944 they starteda
study of icing of aircraft. 32A)
They had much assistance from Victor Clark, Falconer, and others
of the observatory personnel, who were already working on riming and
icing. Langmuir and Schaefer, however, were able to introduce Some new
and very productive ideas.
Extensive mathematical calculations were necessary. The first work
of this nature was done by Langmuir, and his results were used in connec-
tion with the cloud studies at Mount Washington (see below). During the
later stages of the Mount Washington studies, Langmuir decided to make use
of a differential analyzer for these calculations, and in preparing the mat-
erial for that purpose, he was assisted by Dr. Katharine Blodgett. Thus
it was possible to calculate the percentage of water droplets which would
be depesited on a given surface under specific conditions, The information
was used on data obtained on Mount Washington to determine the number
and size of water droplets involved in the formation of ice.
CLOUD STUDIES AT MOUNT WASHINGTON
The theoretical calculations worked beautifully in practice. They
began to acquire a very satisfactory understanding of some features of
cloud structure and the growth of cloud particles. They became absorbed
in this new interest. And Langmuir found he could apply to his smoke gen-
erator work the same evaporation-condensation theory he had used to cal-
culate the growth of smoke particles.
But, although they felt they had a fundamental theory for some of the
factors that caused particles to grow in clouds to the size they are, they
didn’t feel conditions were right for further study on Mount Washington.
It would be far better to study cloud particle growth in airplane flights.
That would require the development of new instruments.
This was late in 1946. They took the question up with the Army Air
Force and the Signal Corps. They were led to think that perhaps some-
body might furnish aircraft for experimental purposes of this sort; it
seemed that it would be desirable to know something about clouds from a
Early History -6-
standpoint of national defense. But they didn’t get along very fast. They
carried the research along on their own to a large extent, testing instruments
on Mount Washington, but they never got tests in aircraft.
NUCLEATION
By this time they were deeply interested in their cloud study. They
investigated and learned a lot of things. But the thing that struck them most
was that, if there are any snow crystals in a supercooled cloud, they must
grow rapidly and should tend to fall out. They came to the conclusion that
in winter, if there are supercooled stratus clouds from which no snow is
falling, even though the temperatures in the clouds are below freezing, there
simply are no appreciable numbers of effective snow nuclei. Such clouds can
apparently be supercooled to very low temperatures.
They thought this presented a problem that should be investigated. Why
was it that sometimes snow forms so easily, with apparently no lack of nuclei
on which crystals can grow, and at other times there seem to be none? They
concluded there must be something in the atmosphere that causes water drop-
lets to change to ice only at certain times and under various conditions. They
decided to make some careful experiments in the laboratory in an attempt to
duplicate those conditions.
SCHAEFER’S COLD BOX
During Langmuir’s absence in California for three or four months in 1946, |
Schaefer made what Langmuir has described as ‘‘some beautiful experiments? (1!
During the previous winter he had been studying the behavior of droplets on cold
surfaces to see how they supercooled or froze as the temperature dropped. He
had found he could supercool water drops to as low as -20°C on surfaces coated
with polystyrene and similar materials. He had realized, however, that such
experiments were not simulating supercooled clouds and had sought a better
method of experiment.
He decided to try a home freezing unit of the type used for food storage.
He lined it with black velvet so he could get a good view of what happened inside
when he directed a beam of light down into the box. He then breathed into the box,
and the moisture condensed and formed fog particles which were just like ordin-
ary cloud particles, although the temperature was about -23°C. No ice crystals
formed. He tried many different substances dusted into the box to get ice crys-
tals to form, but almost never got any. He got just enough to convince him that,
if he did get them he could easily see them.
Finally, one July day when the temperature of the chamber was not low
enough, he put a big piece of dry ice into it to lower thetemperature. In an
instant the air was full of ice crystals. The crystals persisted for a while
Early History ae
after he took the dry ice out.
Following this discovery, Schaefer conducted a number of experiments.
These showed that even a tiny grain of dry ice would transform the super-
cooled cloud in the cold box to ice crystals. Quantitative experiments were
conducted which showed that many millions of crystals could be produced
in this manner.
In order to find out if there was something peculiar to dry ice which
produced this effect, he worked with other cold materials. For example,
he showed that, by dipping a common sewing needle into liquid air and then
passing it momentarily through the supercooled cloud in the cold box, sim-
ilar spectacular effects occurred. This demonstrated that the presence of
a sufficiently cold substance was all that was required to produce the effect.
Schaefer devised methods and equipment for determining, with considerable
accuracy, the fone temperature at which the supercooled cloud changed
to ice crystals. 36) This temperature was found to be -38.9C+0.1 degree.
Schaefer’s discovery changed the whole situation. It meant, first, that
it was not the dry ice or the needle as such that was responsible for the ef-
fect, but the temperature. Anything could be used having a temperature of
-40-C or colder.
VONNEGUT’S EARLY WORK
CROUDSTUDIES AT Vela.
Meanwhile the stage had been set for another important contribution
to this pioneering work in meteorology. Before Dr. Bernard Vonnegut be-
came associated with the General Electric Research Laboratory, he was
employed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he had been en-
gaged in various stwiies during the early years of World War II, In the
laboratory of the Chemical Engineering Department he worked on smokes
for the Government’s Chemical Warfare Service. He measured smokes,
smoke penetration, and smoke filters. Then he became interested in the
problem of icing of airplanes and went to work on that in the Meteorology
Department, for the Air Force.
SUPERCOOLING
Meanwhile he had been doing some work on the side in supercooling.
He found that by making an emulsion of water drops suspended in oil, he
could cool water far below the normal freezing point, and it would not
freeze i a certain point was reached, when the whole mass froze very
rapidly. 62
Early History -8-
Vonnegut joined the staff of the Research Laboratory in the Fall of
1945 and he continued his supercooling investigations there.
SUPERCOOLING OF METALS
In various contacts with Langmuir and Schaefer, Vonnegut learned of
the work they were doing. Knowing that Schaefer was already working on the
supercooling of water, he switched his activity to the supercooling of metals,
in order to avoid duplication. He found he could supercool Woods metal by
subdividing it into many small, independent particles, and he developed a
technique of studying the effect with x-rays. He also-worked with tin, (62)
NUCLEATION STUDIES
Vonnegut had been interested in the work being done by Langmuir and
Schaefer and had kept in rather close touch with it. In the fall of 1946, Lang-
muir asked him if he would be interested in helping with the quantitative work
being done on the number of ice crystals produced by dry ice. As a result,
Vonnegut applied himself to this and other problems in the general study of
nucleation.
SILVER IODIDE
It occurred to Vonnegut that some substance very similar to ice in its
crystal structure might serve as the nucleus for the formation of ice crystals
in the cold box. He went through all the known tables of crystal structure and,
from over a thousand compounds, selected three substances that he thought
might have possibilities: lead iodide, antimony and silver iodide. 56
He dropped samples of each of these three substances into Schaefer’s
cold box. The results were almost negligible, although he produced enough
effect with the lead iodide to warrant further experiment. He and Schaefer
tried iodoform and iodine and obtained ice crystals in small numbers with
them, too, but nowhere near as many as with dry ice seeding.
The problem intrigued Vonnegut. He decided to try a metal smoke in-
stead of the powder. He introduced some silver smoke into the box by draw-
ing an electric spark from a piece of silver, and it produced in the cold box
a swarm of ice crystals.
The results were So spectacular that he decided to try silver iodide
again, but this time as a smoke, for the effect with silver did not persist.
First he vaporized silver iodide and then he introduced into the cold box
the smoke resulting from the rapid condensation of this vapor. It was a com-
plete success. Further investigation showed that his earlier negative results
Early History 29
with silver iodide had been caused by the fact that the silver iodide he had
used was impure. Powdered silver iodide worked very well when it was
reasonably pure. He also found that the reason for the successful use of
iodine was again impurity--contamination with silver.
The problem then became one of finding out something about how
silver iodide worked and of finding methods of generating silver -iodide
smoke of small particle size on a large scale. So many nuclei could be
produced with silver-iodide smoke that calculations indicated all the air
of the United States could be nucleated at one time with a few pounds of
silver iodide, so that the air would contain one particle of silver iodide
per cubic inch--far more than the number of ice nuclei occurring nor-
mally under natural conditions. 65
LANGMUIR’S EARLY SEEDING CALCULATIONS
Meanwhile Schaefer and Langmuir had continued their study of
the effects of dry ice. In August of 1946 Langmuir made a theoretical
study of the rate of growth of the nuclei produced by dropping pellets
of dry ice through clouds of supercooled water.(80) He calculated the
velocity of fall and time of dissipation of the dry ice, the amount of ice
particles that would be formed, their size, the amount of snow which
would result, etc. With a reasonable number of pellets dropped along
a flight path into the top of a cloud, the limiting factor would not be the
number of nuclei but the rate at which they could be distributed through=
out the cloud.
He also showed that such a formation of ice and snow particles
would raise the temperature of the cloud, and he calculated the amount
of temperature change. Thus the air in the cloud would be caused to
rise, increasing its upward velocity because of the seeding. The result-
ing turbulence would spread the ice nuclei throughout the cloud. He
anticipated that it would only be necessary to seed a stratus cloud along
lines one or two miles apart in order to give complete nucleation of the
cloud within'a period of 30 minutes or so.
FIRST MAN-MADE SNOWSTORM
Thus the stage was set for actual experiment with an airplane in
real clouds. On November 13, 1946, a Fairchild airplane was rented at
the Schenectady airport, piloted by Curtis Talbot, and Schaefer went
aloft in search of a suitable cloud. 38) It was found over Pittsfield,
about 30 miles east of Schenectady, at an altitude of 14,000 feet anda
temperature of -200C. What happened next is best described by the
following extract from Schaefer’s laboratory notebook entry for that
day:
Early History -10-
‘“‘Curt flew into the cloud and I started the dispenser in
operation. I dropped about three pounds (of dry ice) and then
Swung around and headed south.
‘‘About this time I looked toward the rear and was thrilled
to see long streamers of snow falling from the base of the cloud
through which we had just passed. I shouted to Curt to swing
around, and as we did so we passed through a mass of glistening
snow crystals!....We made another run through a dense portion
of the unseeded cloud, during which time I dispensed about three
more pounds of crushed dry ice..... This was done by opening
the window and letting the suction of the passing air remove it.
We then swung west of the cloud and observed draperies of snow
which seemed to hang for 2-3000 feet below us and noted the
cloud drying up rapidly, very similar to what we observe in the
cold box in the laboratory..... While still in the cloud as we saw
the glinting crystals all over, I turned to Curt and we shook hands
as I said ‘We did it!’ Needless to say, we were quite excited.
‘“‘The rapidity with which the CO, dispensed from the window
seemed to affect the cloud was amazing. It seemed as though it
almost exploded, the effect was so widespread and rapid........
‘“When we arrived at the port, Dr. Langmuir rushed out, enthu-
siastically exclaiming over the remarkable view they had of it in
the control tower of the G.E. Lab. He said that in less than two
minutes after we radiced that we were starting our run, long
draperies appeared from the cloud vicinity.”’
This first seeding flight was of tremendous significance. Not only did
it show that the laboratory experiments and calculations were justified, but
it also contributed new material to the rapidly accumulating store of know-
ledge. For example, it suggested that the veil of snow that first appeared
immediately below the cloud could not have been produced by snow falling
from the cloud but rather was produced directly by the action of the dry
ice pellets falling inte a layer of air below the cloud which was saturated
with respect to ice but not with respect to water.
Subsequent experiments proved that it was also frequently possible to
seed a supercooled cloud by flying just below it and dropping dry ice. The
thickness of the layer in which such seeding is possible is about 10 meters
for each degree C below the freezing point at the cloud base. The ice crys-
tals thus formed may be carried up into the cloud if the cloud is actively
growing by convection.
Early History -11-
On November 21 Schaefer seeded a supercooled valley fog with dry
ice. He found that it was possible to reduce visibility by generating more
ice crystals than fog droplets and also to dissipate the fog by dispensing
. just enough ice crystals to use up the fog droplets, each crystal growing
‘large enough to fall to the ground.
OTHER EARLY FLIGHTS
There were two other seeding flights made by Schaefer with a rented
plane that month, one on the 23d and the cther on the 29th. 79) These tests
were made on isolated cumulus-type clouds. The whole of each cloud was
changed into ice within five minutes, and snow began falling from the base
of the cloud.
Photographs were taken from the ground every 10 seconds, and these
were developed and projected as movies. They showed that, with orographic
clouds the air moves into one part and leaves another part; ina matter of
five minutes or So an entirely new mass of air is within the cloud. Thus
it was found that experiments with small cumulus clouds are usually of
little interest, for the effects last but a few minutes.
cigs flight test was made on December 20, also using a rented
plane. 2) This time the sky was completely overcast, and by 9 o’clock
in the morning the Weather Bureau in Albany reported that it expected
Snow by 7.0’clock that evening. Schaefer dropped about 25 pounds of
granulated dry ice in the lower part of the cloud at a rate of 1 to 2 pounds
per mile, about 1000 feet above the irregular and ragged base of the over-
cast, at altitudes ranging from 7000 to 8500 feet, at about noontime. A
two-pound bottle of liquid carbon dioxide was also discharged into the
cloud during this period.
Before and during the seeding flight, a light drizzle of supercooled
rain had been encountered, which seemed to evaporate before it reached
the ground. Flying back along the line of seeding, after seeding was com-
pleted, it was found that the drizzling rain had stopped and that it was
snowing. But on reaching the point where the seeding had stopped, drizzle
conditions were again encountered. Three more seeding runs were made
along the same line before the plane returned to Schenectady.
The plane then descended to 4000 feet, where the visibility was
better, and made a reconnoitering flight, checking the places where snow
was falling. By this method and through reports received, it was found
that snow started to fall in many places in the region. At 2:15 p.m, it
started snowing in Schenectady and at many other places within 100 miles.
It snowed at the rate of about one inch per hour for eight hours, bringing
the heaviest snowfall of the winter. While the seeding group did not
Early History -12-
assume it had caused this snowstorm, it did believe that, with weather con-
ditions as they were, they could have started a general snowstorm two to
four hours before it actually occurred, if they had been able to seed above
the clouds during the early morning.
ESTABLISHMENT OF PROJECT CIRRUS
This, then, was the situation in which the research workers found
themselves by the end of the year: Their work on precipitation static,
then on aircraft icing, had developed through cloud studies into meteoro-
logical work of profound significance. But, while their work on precipita -
tion static and aircraft icing had been done under government contract, the
work they were now doing on weather research was not. Their last con-
tract had expired at the end of the previous June.
At this point Dr. C. G. Suits, Director of the Research Laboratory,
reported some of the results of cloud seeding to General Electric officials.
While it was clear that weather modification and experimental meteorology
were remote from the research which had been the traditional interest of
the laboratory and the Company, it was equally clear that these new results
were possibly of very great significance to the country. It was, therefore,
decided that the work should be encouraged and pushed forward.
Because the results might have such wide application to the country
generally, and because much government assistance would be needed in the
form of weather data, airplanes, and flight equipment, a government con-
tract for the continuation of the work was to be sought. While the govern-
ment agency which had sponsored the previous research was not interested
in the new work, other government agencies were. Normal contacts with the
Signal Corps, for example, had kept that organization in touch with the new
research, and Col. Yates, chief of the Air Weather Service, had asked the
Company to submit a bid covering this work in the latter part of September.
A formal proposal covering cloud modification and cloud particle studies
was submitted to the Evans Signal Laboratory at Belmar, New Jersey
(a Signal Corps unit) on September 20. Meanwhile the weather studies were
being conducted at General Electric expense, although General Electric anti-
cipated no benefit resulting to the Company from the work from a meteoro-
logical standpoint.
The flight test of December 20 added a powerful stimulus to the Com-
pany’s negotiations with the government. Although the General Electric press
release covering it did not claim that the general snowstorm was caused by
the seeding, the coincidence of the two events did cause some independent
Speculation over the possibility of cause and effect.
Early History -13-
This question was So important that it was brought by Suits to the
attention of Vice President R. E. Luebbe, general counsel of the Company.
It was recognized that the possibility of liability for damage from cloud-
seeding experiments was a very worrisome hazard in this new form of
cloud experimentation. Since such a threat to the share owners’ money
would not be balanced by any known gain to the Company’s products or
business, there was great reluctance to incur risks of uncertain but
potentially great magnitude.
It was considered particularly important for this reason that any
seeding experiments be conducted under government sponsorship. No
further seeding flights were made until such sponsorship was provided.
A contract (W-36-039-sc-32427 req. EDG 21190) was finally re-
ceived from the Signal Corps covering ‘‘research study of cloud particles
and cloud modifications’’ beginning February 28, 1947. It covered cloud
modification by seeding, plus investigations of liquid water content, par-
ticle size, particle distribution, and “‘vertical rise of the cloud in respect
to the base.”’
An important part of the contract was a subparagraph stating that
‘the entire flight program shall be conducted by the government, using
exclusively government personnel and equipment, and shall be under the
exclusive direction and control of such government personnel.’’ The Re-
search Laboratory immediately notified all those involved in the research
‘‘that it is essential that all of the G.E. employees who are working on this
project refrain from asserting any control or direction over the flight pro-
gram. The G. E. Research Laboratory responsibility is confined strictly
to laboratory work and reports.”’
Although the contract was a Signal Corps contract, the project actu-
ally had joint sponsorship by the U.S. Army Signal Corps and the Office of
Naval Research, with the close-cooperation of the U. S. Air Force, which
furnished airplanes and the associated personnel.
The title of Project Cirrus was not applied immediately. It went into
effect officially on August 25 of that year.
Ill - GETTING ORGANIZED
CONTRACTUAL HISTORY
The work done on Project Cirrus and the activities leading up to
it were covered by several contracts with the government.
The two research projects, involving first the work on gas masks
and smoke filters and then the work on smoke generators, extended over
a period from October 1940 through February 1944. This work was done
under two contracts (NDCre-104 and OEMsr-131) with the Office of
Scientific Research and Development.
From October 1943 through June 1946, precipitation static research
was carried on under Signal Corps contract W33-106-sc-65 and, subse-
quently, under Air Force contracts W33-038-AC-9151 and W33-038-AC -15801.
The meteorological research. which became Project Cirrus, was
supported for a time by the General Electric Company. In February 1947,
the first of three Signal Corps contracts (W36-039-sc -32427, W36-039-sc-
38141, and DA36-039-sc-15345) was signed. The last of these remained
in force until the end of September 1952.
ORGANIZATION
The over-all direction of the project and the formation of broad
matters of policy were entrusted to a Steering Committee, consisting
of representatives of the three military branches of the government co-
operating in the project. Dr. Irving Langmuir and Dr. Vincent J. Schaefer
of the Research Laboratory served as consultants on the committee. The
military personnel was as follows:
Signal Corps. Dr. Michael J. Ference, Jr., chief, meteor-
ological branch, Evans Signal Laboratory,
Belmar, N. J. His alternate was Dr. C. J.
Brasefield of the same unit of Belmar.
Navy. E.G. Droessler, geophysical branch, Office
of Naval Res., Navy Department, Washington.
His alternate was Commander R. A. Chandler.
Getting Organized =16<
Droessler was succeeded in the summer of 1950
by Lt. Max A. Eaton. Commander Chandler was
succeeded in the summer of 1949 by Commander
G.D. Good, DENO©. (Air).
Air Forces. Major P. J. Keating, chief, Weather Equipment
Flight Test Facility, Middletown, Pa. Major
Keating was succeeded 3/23/49 by Col. N.C.
Spender of the Air Weather Office, Washington.
Major Keating had no alternate; Col. Spender’s
alternate was Lt. Col. J. Tucker of the Elec-
tronics & Atmospheric Branch at Washington.
The activities of Dr. Langmuir, Dr. Schaefer, Dr. Vonnegut, and others
of the General Electric Company’s Research Laboratory staff were limited
by the Steering Committee to laboratory work and analysis. The General
Electric scientific group came to be known to the personnel of the project
as the Research Group. In addition to Langmuir, Schaefer, and Vonnegut,
this group included Messrs. Kiah Maynard, R. E. Falconer, Raymond Neu-
bauer, Robert Smih-Johannsen, Duncan Blanchard, George Blair, Myer
Geller, Victor Fraenckel, and Charles Woodman.
An Operations Group was established by the Steering Committee early
in the life of the project to plan, co-ordinate, and control all project air oper-
ations, aSsist in the assembly and analysis of all technical data obtained,
provide all necessary meteorological information and service required for
the efficient conduct of the project, and take whatever action was necessary
to fulfill those requirements. This group would contain all military and
civilian personnel necessary to fulfill those functions, and it would be under
the direction of an Operations Committee. This committee was set up to
‘‘assume full responsibility for, and, therefore, exercise complete freedom
of action in the initiation of plans for, and the control of, all project air oper-
ations to be conducted in the vicinity of Schenectady.’’
The Operations Committee was set up, like the Steering Committee, to
include representatives of the three services, plus Kiah Maynard of the Re-
search Laboratory as General Electric consultant. It went through numerous
changes of personnel. The initial membership, and subsequent changes, were
as follows:
1. Lt. Comm. Daniel F. Rex, USN, chairman; Capt. C. N.
Chamberlain, USAF; Roger Wight, Signal Corps; Mr.
Maynard.
2. Wight was succeeded by Samuel Stine in August, 1947.
Getting Organized -17-
3. In June, 1948, Mr. Stine became chairman and Lt. Comm.
ih, B, Faustwexecutive officer.
4, In the fall of 1948 Major Rudloph C. Koerner, Jr. became
chairman, Rex and Stine left the committee, and Capt. J. A.
Plummer, USAF, was added.
5. In February, 1949, Lt. Comm. Paul J. Siegel became ex-
ecutive officer and Lt. Comm. Faust, operations officer.
6. In April, 1949, Faust was succeeded by Capt. Carl F. Wood
as operations officer, Faust becoming data control officer.
Plummer left the committee. Membership from then on:
Koerner, Siegel, Wood, Faust, Maynard.
The initial personnel of the operations group consisted of six repre-
sentatives of the Signal Corps, six of the Air Force, and six of the Navy.
Although the number of General Electric people working on the project re-
mained fairly constant at a figure of six or seven, the government repre-
sentatives varied widely in number. As a consequence, the total personnel
of the project varied also, running as high as 40 or 41 persons at various
times when activities were at their peak. These included crewmen for the
planes, weather technicians, and civilian employees for such services as
photography. A total of 33 persons went on the Puerto Rico operation, and
37 went on the second trip to New Mexico.
An alphabetical list of the members of Project Cirrus at one time or
another is attached as Appendix |.
FLIGHT PROGRAM
At the outset, and until June 1, 1947, Project Cirrus test flights were
made by a plane from the Weather Squadron assigned to the Signal Corp.
This plane visited Schenectady six times, and a total of five seeding flights
were made. Olmsted Field at Middletown, Pennsylvania, was the base of
operations.
It was Soon discovered, however, that many delays in carrying out
flights could be traced to this geographic separation of the Operations
and Research groups. Accordingly, in the summer of 1947, all flight
operations were transferred to Schenectady. Headquarters for the Opera-
tions Group was established at the General Electric hangar at the Schen-
ectady County Airport.
The facilities steadily expanded until, at the end of 1948, they con-
sisted of a total of 1830 square feet of office, operations, and storage
Getting Organized -18-
space, including a flight tower, weather office, administration office, dark
room, navy cage, Recordak room, operations office, analysis room, and
a parachute-and-stock room. In addition to this, about 640 square feet of
conference room was available whenever required. In the same category
was a room in the hangar for aircraft, when a heated area was needed for
installation work, repairs, or other reasons.
On call were two aircraft mechanics, two shop men, two transcribers,
and an instrument man. A full-time secretary handled reports, correspon-
dence, telephones, etc.
To facilitate flight operations, two Weather Bureau teletype circuits
were installed, as well as a Teletalk system connecting all offices. This
could also operate a public-address system in the hangar and the ramp. In
addition, connections were made through two leased wires to the Boston CAA
control center and the Army Airways control center at Middletown, Pa.
At the hangar, a repair station was available. Guards were assigned
for the protection of aircraft and equipment, and standard aircraft fire-
fighting equipment with trained personnel was on hand for emergencies.
At first the number of aircraft assigned to the project was disappoint-
ingly meager, but eventually this situation was corrected. At one time as
many as six planes were available--three from the army and three from
the navy.
Active flight operations ran from the establishment of the project in
March, 1947, until August, 1950, when the Operations Group was disbanded
at the suggestion of the Research Group. (This move was made in the inter-
ests of economy, for most of the objectives of the flight program had by that
time been accomplished.)
A list of all the flights made by Project Cirrus is attached as Appendix
II,. This list includes the flights made in rented planes before the establish-
ment of the project. It also includes the flight numbers for the time after a
system of numbering was instituted.
Although a brief statement of the location and purpose of each flight
is also given in Appendix Tl, this information is not supplied in detail. It is,
rather, summed up in connection with the discussions which follow of the
individual studies and operations. Detailed descriptions of the flights are
available in flight folders located, at the time of this writing, in the files
of the Weather Station in the Laboratory penthouse.
Getting Organized -19-
GROUND OPERATIONS
In addition to the flight program, the Operations Group had the re-
sponsibility for condicting numerous operations on the ground, These
operations were of two kinds: photography and silver iodide seeding.
When it became apparent that such operations would be necessary as
part of the project from time to time, a system of numbering each operation
was established. A record of all the numbered ground operations was main-
tained by the Operations Group, and a tabulation from this record is attached
as Appendix III.
WEATHER STATION
Weather observation being essential to operations of the type carried
on by Project Cirrus, one of the first steps to be taken by the Operations
Group was to set up a complete weather-observing station as part of the fa-
cilities at the General Electric hangar. Daily radio contact was established
with the Weather Equipment Flight Test Facility at Middletown, Forney ivenla,
and circuits for weather teletype services were installed.
The primary requirements of the weather station were agreed to be as
follows:
1. Preparation of aerological flight data prior to take-off
on flight tests.
2. Gathering of data to supplement that obtained in the air
on seeding missions, gathered after the flight for the area
concerned during the time of test.
3. Co-operating with the Research Group in its study of weather-
analyzing instruments and test flights, and supplying it with
such special weather reports as needed for analyzing purposes.
In order to meet these requirements, the Weather Station performed
the following functions:
1. Daily small-cloud maps were prepared of conditions dur-
ing the last hour before take-off on test flights, covering
an area having a radius of 200 miles from the Schenectady
County Airport.
2. Daily flights were made to record the air conditions up
to 8000 feet above the airport.
Oo eae
Getting Organized -20-
3. Radiosonde data above freezing level were obtained daily
from Albany.
4, Daily surface weather maps were prepared of the com-
plete Eastern United States area.
5. Data were obtained daily of the winds aloft for the Eastern
United States.
6. Local actual weather observations were made hourly.
7, After each test flight, cross-sections of the areas seeded
were prepared, based on reports of flight personnel and
teletype weather reports.
When the Operations Group was disbanded in 1950 and the facilities at
the General Electric Hangar were abandoned, the Weather Station was trans-
ferred to the penthouse of the Research Laboratory at the Knolls.
Through the Office of Naval Research, two navy men had a lengthy
assignment to the project as aerologists, and as such they contributed much
valuable assistance to the study of general and specific problems encountered
in the various research studies. These men were Lt. (jg) W. E. Hubert and
H, J. Wells, AGC. (Lt. Hubert was succeeded in 1951 by Lt. Cdr. C. E. Tilden.)
A partial list of studies made by these men is included on pages i and ii of the
ano ewe yoo the final report on Contract W-36-039-sc-38141 dated July
SOs 1951)
PHOTOGRAPHY
Another very important activity essential to the success of the project
was photography of various kinds, From the outset it was found that complete
evaluation of the results of the various seeding experiments could not be
made without taking pictures.
Both still and motion-picture types of photography were used, In addi-
tion, special techniques were adopted. For example, by means of lapse-time
photographs it was possible to speed up movies in order to obtain a better
grasp of the changes taking place in a cloud. Also, by the use of stereoscopic
equipment, it was possible to produce three-dimensional views.
A photographic darkroom was provided as part of the Ground Operations
facilities at the General Electric hangar. When the Operations Group was dis-
banded in 1950, darkroom facilities were provided in the penthouse weather
station at the Knolls.
Getting Organized -21-
So important was photography considered in the active phase of the
project, when the Operations Group was functioning and regular test flights
were being conducted, that many civilian professional photographers were
employed in addition to those provided by the Signal Corps. On the second
New Mexico test operation, six photographers made the trip from Schenectady
to Albuquerque. During the Puerto Rican test operation, over 100,000
frames of lapse-time pictures were taken in color. The load on the darkroom
at the General Electric hangar in Schenectady became So great that a photo-
graphic trailer was obtained from the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories
to relieve the congestion.
One print of each photograph was, at the time of the preparation of
this report, on file in the Knolls penthouse weather station, plus virtually
all motion pictures (some are in the possession of Schaefer). All negatives
are filed in the photographic vaults of the Signal Corps Laboratory at
Belmar, New Jersey.
INSTRUMENTATION
A considerable portion of the time and activity of Project Cirrus per-
sonnel was spent on the development of special instruments, tools, and equip-
ment essential to the project. As in any new undertaking in which there is
little or no previous experience, many new devices of this type had to be
designed, or old ones had to be adapted to special requirements. In addi-
tion to Schaefer’s simple cold chamber, which became a standard item of
meteorological research in the field of cloud physics, the more important
equipment of this type follows:
Dry Ice Dispenser. One of the first instruments which had to be de-
veloped was an automatic dry ice dispenser. 79) This was devised
(Schaefer -Falconer-Kearsley) for use in an airplane, to allow a continuous
release of dry-ice pellets during seeding operations.
Dry Ice Crusher. This was a device (Schaefer-Falconer -Kearsley)
for reducing blocks of dry ice to usable fragments for seeding purposes.
It greatly reduced the time required for preparing this material for a
seéding run.
76)
Silver Iodide Generators. A number of different methods for the gen-
eration of silver-iodide smokes were studied by Vonnegut early in the his-
tory ve ike project. One method vaporized silver iodide from a het fila =1>n
ment. 3 Another involved the use of a small electric furnace. o) A
third method vaporized silver iodide from a string in a flame and then
caused a very fine smoke by rapidly quenching the flame with a blast of
compressed air. 56) A fourth introduced silver iodide into flares of the
Getting Organized -22-
standard fireworks type.(57) A fifth technique produced silver-iodide smokes
by first producing a silver smoke with an electric arc and then converting
the silver. pe panucks to silver iodide by the addition of iodine vapor to the
smoke.
In addition to these, two other techniques were devised which were well
suited to large-scale seeding. In one, a solid fuel, such as charcoal, impreg-
nated with a silver-iodide solution, was burned.\°7,68) The silver iodide
vaporized and then condensed in the form of a fine smoke. In the other tech-
nique, a Solution of silver iodide and acetone was atomized in a spray nozzle
and burned, vaporizing the silver iodide. 73) The silver-iodide vapor
rapidly condensed when it mixed with the cool air of the atmosphere, to form
a smoke of very small particles, the size of which could be varied over a wide
range. A later design of this generator, adapted for use in flight, was found
to be simple and reliable.
Camera Clinometer. It became evident in early flights that it would be
necessary, when photographing seeded areas, to know the vertical angle at
which the camera was pointed. A very simple device was made (Langmuir-
Falconer) to attach to the camera to indicate this angle. i
Flight Instruments. Standard instruments often had to be modified,
and new ones were occasionally developed. For example, a device was
evolved (Maynard-Falconer) to record the movement of the airplane ‘‘stick’’
for correlation and measurement of vertical acceleration.
‘‘Weather’’ Instruments. But it was in the field of weather observation
and atmosphere studies that most of the instrument development occurred. Some
of the early devices were special rods (Falconer-Maynard) to be mounted on
the airplanes to determine the rate of icing; 75) an air decelerator (Schaefer-
Falconer) to assist in sorting out rain, snow, dust, or cloud particles from the
eee as the plane passes through; 5 ) and a cloud- particle gun
(Se tetas yeteon) for sampling the cloud-droplet size distribution in
clouds. An attempt was made to develop a cloud-particle ranging instru-
ment for airplane use to provide a continuous record of the distribution of
particle sizes in a cloud, but without success.
Cloud Meter. An important early development was a cloud meter
(Schaefer-Falconer), designed to provide information which would give a
eS Ue oi; he th Boy ae effective particle sizes in the various portions of a
cloud. This device, embodying a continuously moving tape im-
pregnated with a water-sensitive dye, gave a satisfactory indication of the
amount of cloud particles collected.
Condensation Nuclei Detector. Another important instrument (Vonnegut)
was one for obtaining a continuous record of the concentration of condensation
nuclei in a given air sample. 67) This involved a Simple adaptation of the
Getting Organized -23-
cloud-chamber technique. Also a very simple pocket-size unit was devised
for making spot checks of the relative numbers of such nuclei in a given
sample.
Vortex Thermometer. A development of much significance was the
design by Vonnegut of an instrument, the oe thermometer, for use by
airplanes in measuring true air temperature. 66) The usual type of ther-
mometer is unsatisfactory for this purpose because of aerodynamic heat-
ing caused by the rapid movement of the airplane through the air. The
vortex thermometer reduced these aerodynamic effects to a negligible
amount. Also, for the first time, it made it possible to give a quite accu-
rate measurement of the temperature in a cloud. Furthermore, an indica-
tion of true air speed can be provided by measuring the difference in
readings given by a vortex thermometer and one exposed in the normal
manner, because the deviation from true temperature of a normal ther-
mometer varies with the speed of the plane. But it was found that the
vortex whistle (see below) showed greater possibilities for this application.
Vortex Speed Indicator. An outgrowth of the development of the
vortex thermometer was the adaption of the principles involved to the
production of a musical note (Vonnegut). As the pitch of the note produced
in such a manner varies with pressure, such a whistle could be used as
the basis for measurement of true air speed and air mileage of airplanes, (71)
Rain Catcher. A tool found very useful in rain studies aloft was a
rain catcher, developed (Langmuir-Schaefer-Maynard) to give the average
value of the precipitation in the air for approximately each thousand feet
of flight. ‘The device involves the use ofa rain scoop, a tube whose exit
velocity can be controlled, and a group of Storage containers. 82
Portable Cold Chamber. A simple but effective cold chamber was
designed by Schaefer, which could be carried about for field studies. It
consisted of a small rectangular wooden box lined with copper sheeting
and having a copper inner chamber. A charge of five pounds of crushed
dry ay was found to hold the temperature below -10°C for three
hours.\83,84,86)
Ice Nuclei Detectors. Since one of the important properties of the
atmosphere as related to the persistence of supercooled clouds is the
presence of ice-forming nuclei, considerable effort was expended toward
the development of an instrument which would provide a continuous, auto-
matic record of the quantity of such nuclei in the air at any given time.
Two developmental instruments were devised, but difficulties were expe-
rienced with both of them, and neither was brought to a satisfactory
degree of perfection. One device (Schaefer) made use of the tendency
Getting Organized -24-
of a thin water-soluble film of polyvinyl alcohol to supercool. (41) The other
(Vonnegut) utilized the cooling effect of the ice crystals when they struck a
hot wire carrying an electric current.
Uniform Particle Generator. A useful tool in the study of cloud physics
is an apparatus for producing particles of uniform size, developed (Vonnegut)
during the work on one of the ice nuclei detectors. 70) With it, particles were
produced in sizes down to about 10 microns diameter.
Salt Particle Detector. An apparatus was constructed (Vonnegut-
Neubauer) that detects and counts aerosol particles, such as salt particles,
by the pulses of light they produce when they enter a hydrogen flame. Ob-
servations showed that the concentration of large sodium-containing particles
in the atmosphere is subject to considerable fluctuation,(74A
Cloud Chamber. A very simple but effective adaptation of the con-
tinuous eu i ee was developed by Schaefer, using water instead of
aleohols* =? It gave promise of considerable value in conducting quanti-
tative experiments with a controlled atmosphere.
Aerosol Precipitator. A very simple apparatus was constructed by
Vonnegut to precipitate aerosol particles from the atmosphere on a strip
of paper. It was found useful in the study of condensation nuclei in the at-
mosphere,
Snowflake Recorder. This device was developed (Schaefer-Falconer-
Kearsley) to record the type and concentration of snow crystals reaching the
ground during the storm period of the winter season, It utilizeda strip of
paper on which was rubbed a water-sensitive dye. 78
Cloud Type Indicator (Schaefer-Falconer), By measuring the daylight
from a small portion of the northern sky, it was found that the variations in
reflection caused by blue sky or various cloud types which passed this area
Bose at a curve which could be interpreted in terms of particular types of
cloud.
IV - LABORATORY STUDIES
The interest and activity in cloud seeding and the fundamental physics
of clouds, following the initial experiments, were so varied that it is diffi-
cult to.give an orderly account of the progress in this field, Research both
in the laboratory and in the atmosphere continued to reveal new and inter -
esting facts. The contents of this section of the history consist of summaries
of the more important laboratory studies in this field which were conducted
by the Research Group of Project Cirrus.
PERSONNEL
It would be difficult, if not impossible, to list the names of all the
people contributing to the laboratory studies of the project. But twelve
persons should be mentioned who took part, either continuously through-
out the life of the project, or at one time or another during its existence.
Dr. Irving Langmuir, under whose direction the project evelved,
planned the methods and techniques for the various programs, analyzed
flight results, and set up procedures for the routine analysis of such re-
sults. He also reduced to convincing mathematics many of the theories
evolved.
Dr. Vincent J. Schaefer, who worked with Langmuir in the planning
of the project, carried out both field and laboratory experiments on the
fundamental processes involved in changes of cloud forms,
Dr. Bernard Vonnegut also carried out extensive field and labora-
tory experiments on subjects associated with the project. Particularly
he concentrated on theories and techniques associated with the use of
silver iodide for seeding.
Raymond E. Falconer worked on various phases of instrumentation
of the flight planes, on laboratory studies, and on other related problems.
He worked closely with Langmuir in his periodicity studies. After the
termination of the Operations Group, the establishment and maintenance
of a weather station in the Knolls penthouse was his primary responsibility.
Victor Fraenckel served as General Electric representative on the
Steering Committee and as contract liaison.
Kiah Maynard was the Research Laboratory representative on all
flight tests and on the Operations Group when it was active. He gathered
data and maintained records of all flight tests. He was associated with
Falconer in the operation of the weather station at the Knolls penthouse.
Laboratory Studies -26-
Raymond L. Neubauer was associated with the later stages of the project
in the development of instruments and studies of silver-iodide smokes.
Robert Smith-Johannsen, associated with the project during its earlier
history, was principally concerned with the study of the supercooling of water.
Duncan Blanchard was temporarily associated with the project in con-
nection with the study of water droplets.
Myer Geller, temporarily associated with the project, contributed im-
portant calculating work.
Charles Woodman, temporarily associated with the project, contributed
important mathematical work.
Arthur Parr, a Research Laboratory machinist, built almost all the
special equipment and developmental instruments involved.
ICE NUCLEI
One of the most important phenomena associated with the study of the
physics of clouds is the formation, distribution, and relative abundance of
nuclei for the formation of ice crystals. This subject, therefore, occupied
the attention of the principal members of the Research Group to a greater
or less extent throughout its history.
Considerable work was done in developing instruments and methods
for detecting the presence of, and counting, such nuclei in the atmosphere.
Relatively early in the history of the project, a station was established by
Schaefer at the Mt. Washington Observatory for regular observations of the
concentration of such ice-forming nuclei, and these observations continued
over five years. Subsequently, Schaefer found in the laboratory that certain
kinds of soils, when dispersed a a dust, were moderately good nuclei under
certain atmospheric conditions. 43
At the time of writing this report, the number of ice nuclei needed in
a supercooled cloud to initiate a chain reaction (see page 28) was not yet
known, but evidence found early in the history of the project, suggesting
that a critical concentration is found in the range of 10,000 to 50,000 nuclei
per cubic meter, has consistently been strengthened since. o4
Observations of ice nuclei were also conducted at the Research and
Development Division of the New Mexico School of Mines at Socorro, with
whom the scientists of Project Cirrus maintained a close liaison.
Laboratory Studies -27-
A significant fact resulting from the Mt. Washington studies was
the rarity of Sal high concentrations of active ice-forming nuclei
in the atmosphere. If the observed results are a true representation
of the average mean condition of the atmosphere, it is obvious that, by
the artificial introduction of sublimation nuclei into the atmosphere, man
possesses a powerful method of modifying many cloud systems.
One prolific source of ice-forming nuclei might be the Great Plains
and the more arid regions immediately adjacent to the Continental Divide.
Wind storms, dust devils, and strong convective ey could easily ac-
count for the formation of ice-forming nuclei aerosols. 47)
It Seems probable ey ie smoke produced by forest fires is a
poor source of such nuclei. 47) An attempt was made to determine the
role that bacteria and the spores of fungi might play in this respect (17)
and to evaluate the role of industrial smokes of various’ kinds. 59)
Adiabatic Expansion of Gas. An important contribution to the early
knowledge of meteorological phenomena was made through Vonnegut’s
observations that, when gas is cooled to below -39°C by adiabatic expan-
Sion, very large numbers of ice crystals are formed.(60) For example,
the low temperature praduced at airplane propeller tips and wings can
seed supersaturated air or Supercooled clouds, resulting i persistent
vapor trails or cloud modification. Cwilong had reported\® that ice
erystals could be produced by this method, but he apparently had not
appreciated the enormous numbers which are so produced.
It was found that the adiabatic expansion resulting from the bursting
of a rubber balloon a millimeter in diameter produced over 10,000,000
ice crystals. Schaefer made a popgun which did the same thing, lending
itself to careful control of temperature, pressure, and humidity.
This provided corroboration of conclusions already reached with
dry ice and furnished additional quantitative data which were found very
useful.
Chemical Effects. An interesting effect noticed by Vonnegut while
carrying out Some Studies of ice crystals in a cold chamber was that
the presence of normal butyl alcohol caused the crystals to form as hex-
agonal columns instead of hexagonal plates, (08) The phenomenon was
studied by Schaefer in some detail, but no practical application of the
findings was developed.
Laboratory Studies -28-
Spontaneous Formation. Work done by Schaefer and others as early
as 1946 indicated that ice crystals formed spontaneously in water-saturated
air when the temperature reached the neighborhood of -35 or -400C. Schaefer
conducted quite a bit of research into this subject of spontaneous forme
and determined that the critical temperature was -38.9+ 0.1 degrees. o4
This phenomenon is probably of considerable significance in relation
to the formation of cirrus clouds and ice crystal fogs in the free atmosphere.
Structure. Schaefer’s study of the various types of snow crystals, which
started before the establishment of Project Cirrus, continued throughout the
project. In 1948 he published a simple yet seat list of ten types of solid
precipitation for classification purposes, (39 In slightly modified form this
classification is now in use throughout the world. ‘
Crystal Growth and Multiplication. Experiments made by Schaefer in
1949 indicated that snow particles tend to shed minute fragments of ice when
they are placed in air slightly warmer than their own temperature. An ice-
forming nucleus appearing in a supercooled cloud grows rapidly, especially
in the temperature range of -12 to -16°C, where the difference between the
partial vapor pressure of ice and of water passes through a maximum. When
the crystal becomes large enough, it sheds a considerable number of ice parti-
cles as it falls through the cloud. These particles then serve as new nuclei
and repeat the cycle. In this manner, a few ice-forming nuclei in a cubic
meter of cloud may start a chain reaction which, within_a few minutes, could
shift a supercooled cloud to a mass of snow crystals.
A laboratory study was made to determine the factors of importance
for obtaining the maximum rate of snow crystal growth.
SILVER IODIDE
After the discovery that silver-iodide smokes serve as an excellent
nucleus for the formation of ice crystals, the project was faced with the prob-
lem of finding some way of generating the smoke efficiently and in quantity.
It was found that smokes consisting of exceedingly fine particles could be
easily produced by vaporizing silver iodide at a high temperature and then
rapidly quenching the vapor. This was readily accomplished by burning
Silver -iodide -impregnated charcoal or injecting a spray of silver-iodide
Solution into a hot flame. Simple generators based on this principle were
made which could produce 10 ?*nuclei per second--enough to seed from
1000 to 10,000 cubic miles of air per hour (65
Laboratory Studies -29-
A very interesting fact discovered as the result of one of Vonnegut’s
studies is that silver-iodide particles do not react immediately as ice-
forming nuclei when introduced into a supercooled cloud of water droplets.
Even 50 minutes after introducing a smoke sample into the cold chamber,
ice crystals could be seen to form at a measurable rate. The general
conclusion reached as a result of this study wee iat the rate of reaction
at -18°C is 30 to 40 times faster than at 10°C, ©
The first unambiguous results in cloud seeding using silver -iodide
generators were obtained in 1948. Silver-iodide nuclei produced by one
of Vonnegut’s generators installed in an airplans resulted in cloud mod-
ification similar to that produced by dry ice.
Experiments were conducted to determine whether the burning of
charcoal particles used in silver-iodide seeding from an airplane would
be seriously affected by the moisture in clouds. It was concluded that
the bumping is not seriously affected if the charcoal is thoroughly ig-
nited.\°/
Some experiments were conducted to discover the value of a turbo-
jet burner as a Silver-iodide smoke generator. It was decided that such
a method might &S of value if larger generators were needed than those
already in use| 8)
Experiments were also made in tracing silver-iodide smokes after
their release by seeding generators. 6
The nature of silver iodide is such as to suggest the possibility
that its effectiveness as a seeding agent might be reduced by the action
of ultraviolet and near-ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Accordingly,
an investigation was made to determine its rate of decay under expected
conditions of radiation in the free atmosphere. The results of work in
this field not only by Project Cirrus, but also the New Mexico School
of Mining and Technology, suggested that far greater quantities of silver-
iodide particles might be required for seeding operations under conditions
of bright sunlight than would be needed at night or under conditions of
Cloud cover. But later work and observations indicatsd that the effect
of sunlight might not be as bad as was forecast. ol,72
Experimental work showed that it is possible to convert super-
cooled ground fogs to ice crystals by releasing silver-iodide smokes.
(56)
Laboratory Studies -30-
RAINDROP STUDIES
Although many of the details are still lacking, studies conducted by
Project Cirrus began to provide answers to the question of how rain is
formed.
In 1947, when reports were received of successful results obtained
by dry-ice seeding of cumulus clouds over Hawaii having a temperature
above the freezing point, Langmuir restudied theoretical calculations he
had prepared in 1944 in studies relating to work at Mt. Washington Ob-
servatory. As a result ae developed a theory which agreed very well with
the reactions reported, (/ )
According to Langmuir’s theory, actively growing cumulus clouds
having an average drop size of 20 microns, a liquid water content exceeding
2.5 G/M, and a vertical thickness of more than a mile are in favorable
state for starting a chain reaction. This could be achieved by introducing
water drops greater than 50 microns in diameter into the actively growing
part of the cloud.
Large drops in such a cloud would fall at a greater velocity than
would small drops. In falling, they would overtake and collide with the
small drops and thereby increase in size. In time the large drops would
become so large that surface tension could no longer hold them together,
and they would break up into two or more smaller drops. These in turn would
grow and break up, and the number of large drops would increase in this
manner by a chain reaction.
The process would not be sufficient to produce large numbers of
raindrops in a cloud without a vertical updraft. However, in the case of
clouds with suitable updraft conditions, many stages of the chain reaction
are carried out, resulting in the production of rain.
This chain-reaction theory led Langmuir to postulate that cumulus
clouds having sufficient updrafts could be seeded with a few large water
drops.
To determine the validity of several of the important phenomena in-
volved in this theory, various studies were initiated in the laboratory and
experiments conducted in the field. Blanchard devised a splendid method
for studying the properties of free-falling water droplets in air, using a
vertical wind tunnel. A series of striking stroboscopic photographs was
made, showing the oscillations, gyrations, Sree UE and fractures that go
on as water drops fall at their terminal velocity.
Laboratory Studies -31-
Another activity concerned itself with devising means of sampling
raindrops and measuring diameter. 3
| Seeding with water drops was carried out with apparent success in
tropical clouds. 41) This is more fully discussed in a later section of
this report.(Page 48)
CONDENSATION NUCLEI
Condensatién nuclei played an important role in the behavior of the
atmosphere. In 1948 Vonnegut devised a method of obtaining a continuous
record of the concentration of condensation nuclei in the atmosphere, (©7
Various experiments were conducted with this equipment, both aground
and aloft. The results suggest that the continuous measurement of the con-
centration of condensation nuclei may be very useful in meteorological in-
vestigations.
ELECTRICAL PHENOMENA
It was observed in 1943 by Schaefer that interesting atmospheric
electrical measurements could be obtained by connecting one end of a
shielded cable to an insulated needle presented to the sky and the other
end to a Suave recording microammeter, one side of which was well
grounded, Among the interesting observations made during successive
years was one to the effect that the data obtained with this instrument in-
dicated the passage of charged clouds over the observation point.
Continuous records were kept by Falconer from 1948 on, using the
data provided by this equipment, and an attempt was made to correlate
the measured corona-discharge currents with other meteorological phe-
nomena, such as frontal passages, wind direction, precipitation, and re-
flected light from the northern sky. It was found that there was generally
good agreement between such findings and those of other investigators.
Best correlations obtained with this equipment seemed to be with
frontal passages associated with the arrival of new air masses and the
occurrence of precipitation not necessarily local but possibly extending
to a radius of a few hundred miles. But correlation was also obtained
with wind shifts and pressure changes, Since frontal passages were
associated with those phenomena. There also seemed to be some re-
lation between certain instrument indications and small, sharp changes
in the ne een light from the northern sky, particularly in apparently
clear skies |
Laboratory Studies -32-
Workman-Reynolds Effect. When Workman and Reynolds announced
in 1948 their discovery of the formation of a large electrical potential when
water containing small quantities of certain salts is in the process of
freezing, Schaefer decided to check the experiments by an independent in-
vestigation. Accordingly, test equipment was set up and observations were
made.
The Workman-Reynolds electrical effects were immediately observed.
The results of this experiment have very important implications with re-
spect to the development of lightning in thunderstorms.
Electrical Atomization. Some qualitative experiments were made by
Vonnegut and Sie ana ig determine the effects of high voltage on the form-
ation of water drops. 74B) tt was found that streams of highly electrified,
uniform droplets about 0.1 millimeter in diameter could be produced by
applying potentials of from 5 to 10 kilovolts, ac or de, to liquids in small
capillaries. Aerosols of uniform size and having a particle radius of a
micron or less could be formed if the capillary was positively charged and
if liquids having low electrical conductivity were used. Aerosols formed in
this way showed the colors of higher-order Tyndall spectra.
DO RUDYSOr CLOUD EY DES
In connection with an investigation of snowstorm intensities, Schaefer
started measuring variations in sky brightness using a light-sensitive instru-
ment. Falconer subsequently carried on the measurements in more detail.
It was discovered that the variations in the curve made by this instrument
were a rather good indicator of the type of cloud cover prevailing during a
day. There seemed to be a typical trace for each general cloud type.
Such an instrument might be useful in automatic weather stations, to
give some indication of sky conditions in remote locations.
Test installations were made by Falconer at various points aground
and aloft, and considerable data were gathered.
ANALYTICAL WORK
Of great significance, both in connection with activities of the Research
Group and with those of the Operations Group, was the analytical work per-
formed by Langmuir. It constituted one of the most important contributions
to the project.
Laboratory Studies -33-
From the outset he studied and analyzed the various test flights of
the Operations Group, and extensive reports were prepared analyzing cum-
ulus and stratus cloud seedings. His analysis of the cumulus seedings over
Hawaii and the chain-reaction theory of rainfall which resulted have al-
ready been mentioned. (Page 30)
Langmuir paid particular attention to the seeding operations carried
on in New Mexico, and to the possible effects of silver-iodide seeding, and
these activities are described more fully in a later section of this report.
(Page 47)
Such a large quantity of data was accumulated by flight, field and
laboratory activities during the more active period of the project, that the
Research Group finally suggested early in 1950 to the Technical Steering
Committee that flight operations be terminated at Schenectady in order
that the accumulated data might be evaluated and reports prepared on
the findings.
V - CIRRUS AND STRATUS STUDIES
CIRRUS CLOUDS
The significance of cirrus clouds and the role they play in various
weather phenomena were, of course, subjects of intense interest to Pro-
ject Cirrus. Various studies of and experiments with such cloud forms
were conducted, although more attention was paid to stratus and cumulus
clouds.
A regular daily observation program was begun in 1947 to explore
the possibility of inducing the development of cirrus-type clouds under
clear sky conditions. It was believed that supersaturation with respect
to ice probably occurs fairly frequently at temperatures warmer than
-39°C in air devoid of foreign-particle nuclei. Lacking such nuclei, a
considerable degree of supersaturation could develop, as is often shown
by the generation of so-called vapor trails behind high-flying aircraft.
- To explore these possibilities, Falconer initiated a project in which
balloons carrying dry ice in open-mesh bags were released on a daily
schedule and followed by theodolite. Many of these produced visible trails
of ice crystals, and in several instances the trails were quite notice-
Bic oo, 18)
Several seedings were also carried out from an airplane in clear
air, using both dry ice and silver iodide. In clear air supersaturated
with respect to ice, the seeding operation produced a cloud made of ice
erystals. The results of these operations indicated that, if the humidity
is low, even at temperatures below -39°C, appreciable supersaturations
with respect to ice can exist without the formation of ice crystals. Ice
crystals can then be created, however, by seeding with either dry ice or
silver iodide.\’3 :
Natural Formation. In six of the Project Cirrus test flights a con-
siderable effort was directed toward obtaining photographic evidence of
the appearance of the tops of cirrus clouds. It was found that, despite the
various irregularities seen from below, the top of such clouds is extremely
mart:
Most meteorologists and weather students agree that a cirrus cloud
formation is often associated with the overrunning of cold air by a warmer
tongue of moist air. Whenever the moisture conditions in the warm over-
riding air reach saturation with respect to water and the colder air below
has a temperature of -39°C or colder, ice crystals will form spontaneously
at the inversion interface. The number of primary crystals that form will
depend on the concentration of condensation nuclei and ice nuclei in the
moist air mass. The number and size of secondary crystals that form will
Cirrus and Stratus Studies Ge
probably be some multiple of the effective number of condensation nuclei.
Since these conditions for the ice-crystal formation are of a marginal na-
ture, the variability and often unique appearance of true and false cirrus
clouds may be closely related to these spontaneous crystal formation
phenomena.
Based on this reasoning, Schaefer concluded that it is likely that the
concentration of supercooled water droplets at the transition temperatyre
of -39°C is of primary importance in the formation of cirrus crystals. )
Langmuir, analyzing the behavior of cumulus clouds, described an
action which he called cirrus-pumping. This occurs when, with few or no
nuclei present, the cloud rises to great heights. If it rises to a height when
the temperature gets down to -39°C or thereabouts, minute ice crystals are
formed in great numbers, almost instantaneously. These come into contact
with the supercooled water droplets in the cloud and immediately cause them
to freeze. This, in turn, liberates a large amount of heat simultaneously over
the whole top of the cloud, and this upper part rises still further, forming a
cirrus crown shaped something like a pancake.
The pancake grows in dimension and gets thinner, and it sometimes drifts
gradually off to one side, so that it assumes the general appearance of an
anvil--a type of cloud characteristic of the tropics. One large cloud of this
type, said Langmuir, might sometimes produce cirrus clouds which would
spread over 10,000 square miles. Outside of the tropics, they may often occur
Sune ay summer in semi-arid regions such as New Mexico, Arizona, or
Idaho.
Height, Temperature, etc. Some observations were made by the project
of the height of cirrus clouds and their temperatures.
STRATUS CLOUDS
Much more attention was paid to stratus clouds. The flight test of
December 20, 1946, for example, was cen ucted when the sky was com-
pletely overcast, and it produced snow. 12) Im the flight test of March 6,
1947, now under the auspices of Project Cirrus, seeding was conducted
on stratus clouds. Looking down on the cloud, it was observed, first, that
a deep groove had been produced along the top of the seeded area, and snow
fell. Soon the sky cleared up in a spectacular fashion, so that there was a
cloudless area 20 miles long and 5 miles wide where the seeding had taken
ee ey there were no other breaks in the overcast in any direc-
tion, Further tests on stratus clouds produced similar results.
Cirrus and Stratus Studies =e
The conclusion was therefore reached in the earliest days of the pro-
ject that cloud seeding could produce holes in stratus clouds. Thus a plane
should be able to clear a hole for itself. The result would be not only to
increase visibility but also to eliminate icing conditions.
Langmuir made an exhaustive analysis of the photographic data ob-
tained on these early test flights, reaching some very ete conclu-
sions regarding the nature and behavior of stratus clouds. lg
It was soon found that a very useful technique in seeding stratus
clouds was to seed in patterns--L shapes, race-track shapes, Greek gam-
mas, etc. Thus it would be possible to watch for modification'of the clouds
following the same pattern. And invariably modification did occur, agreeing
with the pattern of the seeding. In many cases clear areas were produced
in the cloud deck.
Among the stratus cloud studies made by the project were:
(1) The effect of seeding supercooled stratus clouds with
various amounts of dry ice and silver iodide.
(2) The optimum quantity of seeding agent required to pro-
duce large cleared areas in an otherwise solid deck of
supercooled clouds.
VI - CUMULUS STUDIES
The most spectacular, fruitful, and controversial results produced
by the activities of the project were those produced as a result of the work
on cumulus clouds. This work, which started in the earliest days of the
project, continued throughout its duration and let into some very inter-
esting other activities.
Flight tests on November 23 and 29, 1946, were made on isolated
cumulus-type clouds. The whole of each cloud was changed into ice
within five eee after seeding, and snow began falling from the base
of the cloud.\7°) But it was realized that experiments with small cum-
ulus clouds were of little interest, for the effects lasted but a few minutes.
Other experiments were conducted with cumulus clouds in the early days
of the project and, although many of them were changed to snow, the re-
sults were of comparatively little interest.
By the summer of 1947, however, some spectacular results were
obtained with cumulus clouds, especially with thunderstorms. ‘These were
so impressive that it was decided to make some studies of cumulus clouds
and thunderstorms in New York State’s Sacandaga Reservoir territory, not
far from Schenectady.
This reservoir is situated just south of the southeast corner of the
Adirondack Mountains. Evidence pointed to the probability that this large
body of shallow water provides the moisture which feeds thunderstorms in
eastern New York State. It was believed that the unusual conditions there
could be used to observe the effect of seeding the intense thunderstorms
developed. Actually, however, no seeding was performed there, although
many photographs were taken and considerable time was spent in a study
of conditions in that area.
HONDURAS
In 1948 and 1949, Langmuir visited Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa
Rica to study tropical cloud formations, and particularly to learn what was
being done by Joe Silverthorne, a commercial cloud seeder, in seeding
clouds for the United Fruit Company. The work was being conducted for
the purpose of testing out the possibility of controlling rainfall, and partic-
ularly in the hope of stopping blow-downs that result from winds associated
with thunderstorms, which occasionally destroy large stands of fruit trees.
At Langmuir’s suggestion, Silverthorne tried out a number of ex-
periments early in 1949 and made many worthwhile observations. It was
Sometimes desired to produce rain, and sometimes it was desired to pre-
vent rain. On the one hand, by overseeding the top of a high cumulus
cloud, rain would be prevented. The top of the cloud would float off into
_a higher altitude, where it would be blown away by the counter trade wind.
Cumulus Studies -40-
If, on the other hand, the cloud was seeded just above the freezing level,
heavy rain might be produced. Similarly, water seeding by means of water -
filled balloons released from airplanes might dissipate a cloud and produce
rain at low altitudes, but it seemed that in such instances dry-ice seeding
would be much more effective.
April 18, 1949. The results of the flight on this day, with Langmuir
seco qpanying Silverthorne aloft, were so outstanding as to merit detailed
comment. The following is extracted from an account of the flight by
Langmuir in the Project Cirrus report to the government of July 30, 1951:
‘‘We flew up to Point Sal and found a mass of dry air above
the moist air coming from the sea at an altitude of about 6000
or 7000 feet....From a height of about 8000 feet, looking South,
a whole panorama of high cumulus clouds could be seen rising
above the smoke, which extended up to about 11,000 or 12,000
feet further inland, although it was much lower than this near
the sea.
*‘A large cloud was found which rose, I believe, to a height
of about 25,000 feet, and we seeded it by making a series of short
passes into the cloud at an altitude of approximately 21,000 feet--
two pellets* about one inch cubed being dropped into the cloud
at 50-second intervals during these passes. The whole circuit
of the cloud was made, and then the plane moved off a short
distance, enabling us to see the effect produced.
‘‘A band around the cloud, perhaps 500 or 1000 feet high,
was observed which obviously consisted of ice crystals and
which ultimately detached itself from the lower part of the
cloud and floated off as a huge mass of ice crystals that could
be seen for a long time.
‘‘After the top of this cloud had turned to ice crystals
and had detached itself, there was left under this cloud
nothing but a group of lower clouds that reached only about
14,000 feet, which-was below the freezing level. Later we
flew down among these clouds and found that cloud bases
had gone down from 12,000 feet to about 7,000 feet. It was
difficult to see whether any rain was falling because of the
smoke, but from the lowering of the cloud base we concluded
Se Nr eee ee en ee a ea ee ee ae
*Dry ice.
Cumulus Studies -41-
‘that rain had fallen from the lower part, while the top
of the cloud had detached itself and floated off towards
the northeast.
‘Shortly after seeding this cloud with 10 to 12 pellets,
we picked out a smaller cloud nearby whose top reached
about 20,000 feet and dropped one single pellet of dry ice
one inch cubed on this cloud. About 8 or 10 minutes later
we found that this whole cloud had changed to ice crystals.
We flew through the ice crystal cloud and verified the fact
that they were entirely ice crystals. You could see them
blowing into the cabin, and we also found that the cloud grad-
ually dissipated. It probably rained out from the lower part
of the cloud but this was down in the smoke level where we
could not see it, and the top of the cloud then gradually mixed
with the surrounding dry air which had been deprived of its
source of supply of moisture from below.
‘In other words, on this day we had beautiful examples of
two effects that can be produced by seeding with pellets of
dry ice. First the seeding of the top of the cloud can cause
the top to float off from the lower part. However, in this
ease some of the ice crystals reach the lower part of the cloud
and cause rain to dissipate it. In the other seeded cloud,
which was much lower and reached only a few thousand feet
above the freezing level, the whole cloud rapidly dissipated
as the upper part changed to ice and the lower part rained out.”’
The results of the flight of April 18 constituted for Langmuir a won-
derful demonstration of the effectiveness of single pellets of dry.ice for
modifying large cumulus clouds. Such single-pellet seeding had a number
of practical advantages.
It quickly became obvious to Langmuir that the set-up for carrying
out cloud-seeding experiments in Honduras was unique. Silverthorne made
flights virtually every day, and, somewhere within a 150-mile range, clouds
were nearly always found suitable for seeding. Such clouds were almost
always orographic and associated with certain mountains.
Many interesting experiments were conducted, and almost always
the clouds could be profoundly modified with single pellets of dry ice.
The latter part of Silverthorne’s seeding operations used 10-20 peNets,
presumably to make sure the crystals were more uniformly distributed.
Cumulus Studies -42-
PRIEST RIVER SLUDY
Meanwhile the study of cumulus clouds had been approached from an-
other angle. Early in 1948 a visit was paid to the Research Laboratory and
Project Cirrus by H. T. Gisborne of the Northern Rocky Mountain Forest
and Range Experiment Station, United States Forest Service. Gisborne was
in charge of fire research for Region No. 1. He wanted to learn more about
cloud modification studies.
This fitted in nicely with Schaefer’s interest in the same subject. He
was anxious to study thunderstorms in a good breeding ground, and Gisborne
wanted to see if anything could. be done to reduce forest fires by thunderstorm
modification.
As a result, Schaefer visited the Laboratory at Priest River, Idaho, in
July of that year (1948). He conducted quite a study of conditions there and
made rather complete recommendations for a plan of future activity--a plan
_ which should produce beneficial results from both Gsnepomts: Gisborne’s
practical aspects and Schaefer’s theoretical ones.
Actually, the recommendations were never put into effect. A consid-
erable force for the completion of the project disappeared with the death of
Gisborne. Although the project is still incomplete, interest still exists, how-
ever, both at Schenectady and at Priest River.
RESULTS IN HAWAII
Further data, supplied from still another source, had some unexpected
and very interesting implications and results.
Early in 1947 a request for information on techniques of dry-ice seeding
was received from the Pineapple Research Institute of Honolulu, Hawaii. This
information was supplied by the Research Group of Project Cirrus, which had
been supplying similar information to meet numerous requests Since the pub-
lished reports appeared of Schaefer’s historic snowmaking flight over Pitts -
field in 1946. But in this case there was an unexpected aftermath.
In October, Honolulu newspaper accounts were received in Schenectady,
describing experiments carried out over the island of Molokai by Dr. L. B.
Leopold and Maurice Halstead of the Pineapple Research Institute. A few
weeks later, copies of a preliminary report were received from these two
men, describing interesting results obtained by dumping dry ice into cumulus
clouds having temperatures above the freezing point.
Results in Hawaii -43 -
This was an important development. Although Langmuir had given
some thought to the effects of seeding nonsupercooled clouds, he hadn’t
done much about it, and this new work caused him to restudy theoretical
calculations bg had prepared in 1944 in connection with the work at Mt.
Washington. | )
He now had a new approach to the subject of weather modification:
the growth of rain.
RAIN CHAIN REACTION
The result was Langmuir’s chain-reaction theory of rain production,
in brief, as follows: A typical large drop of water grows in size as it falls
through the cloud, growing faster and faster until it gets so big that it
breaks up, producing smaller droplets. If there are rising air currents,
the little droplets will be borne aloft into the cloud again, growing in size
as they go, until they get so big that they start falling again. This process
continues in a chain reaction, causing the whole cloud to go over into heavy
rain. Under the right circumstances, according to this theory, seeding
with water would be just as good as with dry ice.
The outgrowth of this, in turn, was considerable work by Project
Cirrus to test Langmuir’s theory and apply some of its principles in prac-
tice. For example, to determine the validity of several of the important
phenomena which his theory postulated, laboratory studies were initiated
of the erpyye of water droplets and of the behavior of droplets floating in
the air.’’~’ These studies continued for a considerable period in the
laboratory, and some very interesting observations were made and data
collected. Later, the Research Group did considerable work in the stud
of the drop size and size distribution of various types of precipitation. 3
As another approach to the subject, an extensive series of exper-
iments was conducted to explore the possibility of inducing precipitation
or other modification in growing cumulus clouds by water seeding.
The complete exposition of the theory by Langmuir was a beautiful
example of theoretical analysis and mathematical calculation.(13) Among
other things, it reviewed the knowledge of cloud physics which had al-
ready been gained in the light of the new theory, summing up the probable
behavior of both stratus and cumulus clouds. It went so far as to suggest
that the chain reaction could, under the right conditions, be started by
introdicing even a single drop of water into a cloud, although the action
would be most rapid when many large drops were introduced near the
top of the cloud. It outlined the probable behavior of self-propagating
storms. It postulated that the phenomena that occur in artificial seeding
Cumulus Studies =44—
with dry ice or with water are essentially no different from those that occur
spontaneously in nature. ‘‘However,’’ it went on, ‘‘there will frequently be
cases where the cloud is not yet ready or ripe for spontaneous development
of snow or rain, although it may be possible to produce these effects by
seeding.’’ It concluded with the following significant summary:
‘‘When we realize that it is possible to produce self-
propagating rain or snow storms by artificial nucleation
and that similar effects can be produced spontaneously by
chain reactions that begin at particular but unpredictable
times and places, it becomes apparent that important
changes in the whole weather map can be brought about
by events which are not at present being considered by
meteorologists. I think we must recognize that it will
probably forever be impossible to forecast with any great
accuracy weather phenomena that may have beginnings
in such spontaneously generated chain reactions.’’
STUDIES IN PUERTO RICO
All these studies and tests which had been made, and theories which
had been evolved as a result, with regard to the nature, behavior, and modi-
fication of cumulus clouds were an important background to another signif-
icant milestone in the history of P pect Cirrus, That was the expedition
to Puerto Rico in February, 1949. 4
The objective of this trip was mainly to determine the type and physical
characteristics of the clouds that occur in Puerto Rico during the winter
months, particularly the month of February, and, if suitable clouds were en-
countered, to develop and possibly to evaluate water-seeding techniques. Con-
Siderable personnel took part in the project, a supply of planes was available,
and a large quantity of photographs was made.
At least two new precipitation sequences were observed, and considerable
data were accumulated to permit a better understanding of the processes in-
volved. Also studied was the trade wind inversion, a dominant feature which
controls cloud and precipitation development in the West Indies region during
February. A better understanding of this phenomenon should lead to a better
understanding of tropical meteorology.
The cumulus clouds were observed to have a different character than
those common in the eastern United States. Contacts made with interested
local people in Puerto Rico were expected to lead to the accumulation of
some excellent supplementary data on raindrop size, convergence of winds,
and the observation of double orographic cloud streams from the Liquillo
Mountains.
Cumulus Studies AG
The carrying out of successful ground-air operations on three dif-
ferent occasions, using lapse-time photographs as part of the ground
coverage, demonstrated conclusively to the members of the project the
value of carrying out such studies of clouds which develop in definite
cloud-breeding regions. Similar areas in the United States known to
possess such developments were Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Priest
River, Idaho. Schaefer had already visited Priest River, and arrange-
ments had been made for investigations and experiments there. And
a test mission had been conducted at Albuquerque the previous year,
details of which will be found in the next section of this report. (See
last paragraph on this page.)
Despite the fact that no suitable clouds were found for testing out
water-seeding techniques during the period, many valuable results were
obtained which it was expected would lead to a much better understanding
of the formation of rain in tropical clouds.
One of the very important results of the expedition was the obser-
vation of the important effect of salt nuclei on the formation of precipi-
tation in thin tropical clouds. Said one of the reports: ‘“‘This seems,
on first sight, to be of great importance in explaining the rain showers
which are of daily occurrence and random distribution in the vicinity of
Puerto Rico. Rarely is rain observed from such clouds in the eastern
United States.’’ Said Langmuir:
‘‘Observations in Puerto Rico in 1949 and in the Hawaiian
Islands in 1951 have shown that the rainfall depends on rela-
‘tively large particles of sea salt in the air, in accord with the
publications of A. H. Woodcock and Mary Gifford. Calcula-
tions of the rate of growth of salt particles indicate that it
should frequently be possible to induce heavy rainfall by
introducing salt into the trade wind at the rate of about one
tone per hour in the form of fine dust particles of about 25
microns in diameter. The heat generated by the condensation
may liberate So much heat as to produce profound changes
in the air flow and the synoptic conditions in neighboring
Pees
EARLY WORK IN NEW MEXICO
Although interest in cumulus clouds and thunderstorms was high
among the members of the Research Group in 1948, the cumulus season
passed in the vicinity of Schenectady without any significant flights
having been carried out. It was realized that the best results could be
obtained from the seeding of cumulus clouds in a region where storms
‘Cumulus Studies SANG} —
originate, rather than in a region which, like the Schenectady area, is
traversed by storms. Chairman Stine of the Operations Committee had
had experience as a forecaster in New Mexico, and he strongly recommended
that that region be used as a base for experiments with cumulus clouds. This
recommendation was seconded by Schaefer, who knew of the work being done
in this field by Dr. E. J. Workman’s group at the New Mexico School of Mines
and who had obtained a promise of co-operation from Workman.
Accordingly, it was decided to attempt a flight to Albuquerque, New
Mexico, to determine whether the radar and other facilities of Dr. Workman’s
group would be of assistance in this respect. In view of the waning cumulus
season even at that location, preparations were made to carry out full-scale
tests if proper clouds were formed.
As a result, members of the project spent three days at Albuquerque
during mid-October of 1948. A working arrangement was quickly made with
Dr. Workman and his staff for radar tracking and photography of the tests
to be made. Two seeding flights were made, one on October 12 and the
other on October 14. The second of these two flights was performed under
such satisfactory conditions that the results obtained were considered partic-
ularly significant.
For example, an exceptionally complete aerial photographic record was
made of the conditions of the cloud that was seeded from one of the planes,
including 176 photographs 4'' x 5", plus pictures taken every 45 seconds of a
group of instruments giving time, altitude, air speed, heading of the plane, and
other pertinent information. Every time a photograph was taken of the cloud,
another picture would be taken of a clock and other instruments, thus recording
when the photograph was taken amlother significant data. In this way an in-
valuable flight record was made of the test.
Further data were collected on the ground. Lapse-time movies were
made of the clouds as seen from the station, as well as a series of still
pictures, and radar was used to detect any rain that might fall. Although
some excellent supporting data were thus obtained, unfortunately it was not
as complete as it might be because of a failure of the radio communication
between the airplane and the radar station. But significant radar observa-
tions were made, and photographs were taken of the radar scope, giving a
complete set of records of radar observations for a considerable period
of time,
Four seeding operations were conducted on the October 14 flight. The
details of these seedings and the results obtained were discussed at consid-
erable length by Langmuir in an occasional report, (20) But a summary of
his findings is to the effect that rainfall was produced over an area of more
Cumulus Studies EAs
than 40,000 square miles as a result of the seeding--about a quarter of
the area of the State of New Mexico. And substantially all of the rain for
the whole of New Mexico that fell on October 14 and 15 was the result of
the seeding operations near Albuquerque on October 14. ‘“The odds in
favor of this conclusion as compared to the assumption that the rain was
due to natural causes are many millions to one.’’
An early estimate by Langmuir was that about 100,000,000 tons of
rainfall was produced. Later, using the rain reports from 3380 stations
given ina U.S. Weather Bureau publication, he concluded that the orig-
inal estimate was unduly conservative. 20) Said he: ‘“The evidence in-
dicated that the rain started from near the point of seeding shortly after
the time of seeding and then spread gradually at a rate which at no place
exceeded 22 miles per hour, over an area of at least 12,000 square miles
north to northeast of Albuquerque with an average of about 0.35 inches.
This corresponded to about 300,000,000 tons.’’
SILVER IODIDE AT NEW MEXICO
So satisfactory were the tests conducted at Albuquerque in 1948 that
it was decided to make a further study of cumulus clouds at that location
in the middle of July the following year. Much more elaborate plans were
made for this second expedition; for example, not one but a number of
airplanes took part, and virtually all the members of the Research and
Operations Groups went along.
Previous to the arrival of the main body of the project, Langmuir
and Schaefer investigated the general cloud situation in the various moun-
tain regions nearby and decided the cloud systems along the Rio Grande
Valley near Albuquerque were superior for their purpose to anything
they could find in other parts of Arizona and New Mexico. In addition,
the excellent radar, photographic, and shop facilities of the Experimental
Range of the New Mexico School of Mines appeared to be ideal for carrying
out the operations planned.
Between July 13 and July 22 a total of ten flights was conducted, on
eight of which two or three planes participated. Excellent co-operation
was enjoyed in every phase of the operation, and an extensive mass of
data was obtained both in the air and at the ground stations which were
set up. Seeding operations with varying amounts of dry ice and the
ground eee of a Silver-iodide generator were the subjects for the
flight studies (18
Again the dry-ice seeding was successful, and the results of the
various airborne seeding operations was quite satisfactory. But a new
factor was introduced into this second expedition which put an entirely
Cumulus Studies =43=
different aspect upon the results and had a tremendous influence on the
course of future investigations and analysis. This was the effect of ground
seeding with silver iodide.
As usual, close attention was paid to changes in weather conditions, in
order to obServe any correlation between such changes and the dry-ice seeding.
But, although Vonnegut was conducting some silver-iodide seeding on the
ground, this was disregarded by Langmuir, who was concentrating on the air-
borne dry-ice seedings. Consequently, when he noticed some weather conditions
which could not be explained by the airborne seeding, he was puzzled.
Then he suddenly became conscious of the fact that Vonnegut had been
trying to call the ground seeding of silver iodide to this attention, and he im-
mediately realized that this might explain the discrepancies he had observed.
Further study convinced him that this was, indeed, the case.
Not only that, but the results of the seeding activities in New Mexico the
preceding year were reconsidered in the light of this development. And it
appeared reasonable to conclude that the similar widespread effects produced »
in October, 1948, were the result of the silver-iodide seeding which was done
at that time, rather than of the dry-ice seeding, which had been the previous
interpretation.
Langmuir made, as was his habit, an exhaustive analysis of the available
data and presented a striking summary of his findings 18) from which the fol-
lowing is quoted:
“I wish particularly in this paper to describe the more wide-
spread effects that were produced by the operation of the silver-
iodide generator on the ground during July, 1949, near Albuquerque.
The first seeding with silver iodide during this stay in New
Mexico was on July 15, 1949, but the generator was not run for
more than a couple of hours on each day thereafter until the 19th,
when it was operated for a short time only, late in the afternoon.
On July 20 it was not operated at all, but on the 21st it was op-
erated for 13 hours, starting about 5:30 a.m. and using 300
grams, or a total of 2/3 pound of silver iodide.
‘*Tests made by Dr. Vonnegut have shown that each gram of
silver iodide dispersed under these conditions produced 107°
sublimation nuclei that are slowly effective at -5°C but very
rapidly effective at -10°C.
Cumulus. Studies -49 -
‘‘The new probability theory....has served a valuable guide
in devising an objective method of evaluating the distribution
in space and time of the rain which follows the operation of
the silver-iodide generator on the ground or in the airplane
flights near Albuquerque. To illustrate the results, we will an-
alyze the data obtained on two days, October 14, 1948 (Flight
45) and July 21, 1949 (Flight 110).
‘These days were chosen because large amounts of sil-
ver iodiue were used, but no seeding was done on the imme-
diately preceding days. Furthermore, the wind direction on
both days was rather similar. On both days the Weather
Bureau predicted no substantial amount of rain. Both morn-
ings were nearly cloudless, and on both days SW winds pre-
vailed from the cloud bases at 12,000 feet up to 20,000 feet.
At lower and higher altitudes and later in the day there were
also winds from the E, W, and NW. On both days, visual
effects indicating thunderstorms and heavy rain over wide
areas were observed a few hours after the start of the seeding
operations.
‘In the July operation our techniques had been improved
compared to those of the preceding October. In October ra-
dar observations covered only a period of about an hour in
the afternoon, for at that ime it was not suspected that the
rain that lasted well on to the morning of the 15th had any-
thing to do with the seeding.
*‘On July 21, 1949, however, we had complete radar cover-
age from early in the morning until late at night. Photographs
of the clouds were taken not only from planes but from the
ground, including lapse-time motion pictures with photographs
every few seconds. ;
‘Shortly before 8:30 a.m. on July 21, 1949, a single large
cumulus cloud began to form about 25 miles S of the field sta-
tion near Albuquerque in a sky that was otherwise cloudless.
This cloud was located near the Manzano Mountains, and the
silver-iodide smoke had been blowing from the N about 10 mph
so that it should have reached the position of the cloud.
‘‘Between 8:30 and 9:57 the cloud grew in height slowly at
the uniform rate of 160 feet per minute. At 9:57, when the top
of the cloud was at 26,000 feet (temperature -23°C), the upward
velocity of the top of the cloud increased quite suddenly, so that
the cloud rose 1200 feet per minute until at 10:12 it had reached
44,000 feet (temperature -65°C).
Cumulus Studies L'5(0)=
_ **At10:06, when the top of the clowl was 36,000 feet (temperature
-49°C), the first radar echo return was obtained from the cloud
at an altitude of 20,500 feet (temperature -9°C). The distance
given by radar was 25 miles at an azimuth of 165°, which was
exactly where the cloud was found to be from visual observations.
The area p precipitation in the cloud was about one square mile
at that time and was deep within the mass of the cloud. Within
four minutes, the precipitation area had increased to seven
Square miles, and within six minutes after the first echo ap-
peared, the precipitation had extended upward to 34,000 feet,
where the temperature was -43°C.
“The chain reaction in this cloud started at low altitude at
a time and place which agreed well with the trajectory of the
silver -iodide smoke.
‘*The first flash of lightning was seen at 10:10, four minutes
after the first radar echo was detected. In all, perhaps a dozen
flashes of lightning formed from this cloud, and very heavy rain
was seen to fall to the ground. Ihe top of the cloud moved to-
wards the W, but the lower part of the cloud, from which the
rain was falling, moved gradually to the NE.
*‘At 10:45, a second cloud about eight miles still further
to the NE developed a radar echo, and from that time on during
the day there was an increasing number of rainstorms giving
very heavy showers in the neighborhood. During the late after-
noon 1.2 inches of rain fell at the station where the generator
was located. The phenomena observed near and at Albuquerque
from the ground and the radio reports of exceptionally heavy
rain at Santa Fegave immediate evidence of the success of this
operation in producing heavy rain.’’
Langmuir’s report then analyzes river flow data and rain gauge data
for the region. In discussing the rain gauge data, he says:
‘The Weather Bureau observer with Project Cirrus in
New Mexico stated that he considered it possible or even prob-
able that seeding operations carried on there could have in-
creased the naturally occurring rain by five per cent, but certainly
not more than 10 per cent. If this were ture, it would be possible
to conclude that seeding operations have economic value only if
experiments are carried on many hundred of days, and a statis-
tical analysis is made of the rainfall data for all of these oper-
ations.
Cumulus Studies ails
‘*The rainfall data actually show, however, that the rainfall
on both October 14, 1948 and July 21, 1949 was exceptionally
high and could not have possibly been accounted for as the re-
sult of naturally occurring rain. This proof is made by the
analysis described in this paper.
‘‘The map of the State of New Mexico, which represents
about 120,000 square miles, was divided into eight octants or
45° sectors radiating out from Albuquerque. Then concentric
circles having radii of 30, 75, and 125 and 175 miles were
drawn on the map. This divided the whold state into 27 regions
whose average distances and directions from Albuquerque were
known.
‘‘By entering on the map for each of these regions the
average rainfall for Flights 45 and 110, a comparison could be
made of the distribution of the rain on those two days. An ob-
jective way of evaluating the similarity between such two dis-
tributions is to employ the statistical device known as the
correlation co-efficient. This was found in this case to be
+0.78+ 0.076. The chance that such a high value would occur
among these figures if one set of them were shuffled giving
a random distribution is only 1 in 10. Such close agreement
in the distribution on two days could thus hardly be the result
of chance. There must be an underlying cause.
‘“We believe that the close similarity in distribution is
dependent not only on the rather uniform synoptic situations
over the states that prevailed on these days, but also depended
on the fact that on both days the probability of rainfall depended
on the nuclei that spread radially out from Albuquerque, the
concentration decreasing as the distance from Albuquerque in-
creased.
‘*The next step was to investigate just what characteristics
of this distribution were so similar on these two days. On each
of the two days, nearly all of the rain that fell occurred within
four of the eight octants. If each sector were divided into four
to six parts arranged radially so that each would contain equal
numbers of observing stations (about eight per region), the an-
alysis showed that the average rainfall rose rapidly to a max-
imum in intensity about 30 miles from the point of seeding and
that in each of the four sectors it decreased regularly as the
distance from the source of the silver-iodide smoke increased.
Cumulus Studies 5h
‘In fact, this decrease followed quite accurately equations (2)
and (3), which indicated that the rain fall depended on the con-
centration of nuclei, and this, in turn, varied inversely in pro-
portion to the distance from the source.
‘‘This analysis makes it possible to separate the effects
of the artificial silver-iodide nuclei from that of the background
of sublimation nuclei that were already present in the atmosphere.
The analysis gave proof that C, = 0, so that there was no appreci-
able background on each of these two days. We must conclude
that nearly all of the rainfall that occurred on October 14, 1948
and July 21, 1949 was the result of seeding.
‘*The agreements between the intensity of the average rain-
fall in separate regions and the theoretical equations were So
good in each of the four sectors on October 14 and July 21 that
the probability factors for each sector ranged from 102 to 10%.
Taking all the octants together, the probability factor rose to ;
about 10 &to.l. 4
‘*For each of the eight octants that gave appreciable rain,
the rain started progressively later as the distance from the
source of the silver iodide increased. The advancing edge of
the rain area thus moved from Albuquerque on July 2l ata
velocity of about 15 mph and on October 25 at a speed of about
25 mph. These velocities agree well with the wind velocities
observed at various altitudes.
**The method of correlation coefficient can be applied to
the relation of the time of the start of the rain to the distance
from Albuquerque. This indicates that there is another prob-
ability factor which is the order of 108to l.
‘“Taking these results altogether, it seems to me we may
say that the results have proved conclusively that silver -iodide
seeding produced practically all of the rain in the State of New
Mexico on both of these days.
‘‘T have not mentioned what happened on the other days.
The results, although somewhat more complicated due to the
overlapping of the effect of seeding on successive days, are
almost as striking as those of Flights 45 and 110, in which we
used silver-iodide seeding. Very high probability factors are
found, which help confirm the results indicated by the analysis
of Flights 45 and 110.
Cumulus Studies = a=
‘*The total amounts of rain that fell in the state on the
two days as a result of seeding were found to be 800 million
tons on October 14, 1948 and 1600 million tons on July 21, 1949.
If these units are not so familiar to you, 1 may say that on
October 14, 1948, the total amount of rain resulting from seed-
ing was 160 billion gallons and on July 21, 1949, 320 billion
gallons.
‘Dr, Vonnegut has measured the number of effective sub-
limation nuclei produced by the type of silver-iodide smoke
generator used in our New Mexico experiments for each gram
of silver iodide used....One thus finds that, to get a 30-percent
chance of rain per day within a given area in New Mexico, the
cost of the silver iodide is only $1. for 4000 square miles.
‘If similar conditions prevailed over the whole United
States, the cost per day to double the rainfall would be only
of the order of a couple of hundred dollars. This verified an
estimate that I made in November, 1947 in an address before
the National Academy of Sciences that ‘a few pounds of silver
iodide would be enough to nucleate all the air of the United
States at one time, so that it would contain one particle per
cubic inch, which is far more than the number of ice nuclei
which occur normally under natural conditions.’ Such a dis-
tribution of silver-iodide nuclei ‘in the atmosphere might
perhaps have a profound effect upon the climate.’ ”’
The report then discusses a new theory which Langmuir had devel-
oped of the rate of growth of snow crystals in supercooled clouds contain-
ing known numbers of sublimation nuclei. After a brief exposition of the
basis of this theory, he says:
‘From the probability theory of the growth of showers
from artificial nucleation, one obtains the result that the
total amount of rain produced by operating a ground generator
increases in proportion to the square of the amount of silver
iodide used. Thus, with three times as much silver iodide
one would get nine times the rainfall. The intensities of the
showers would be no greater, but they would extend over a
greater area.
‘An analysis of the July 1949 rainfall in New Mexico,
Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas gives evidence
that a band of heavy rain progressed in an easterly direction
during the period of July 20 to July 23 from southern Colorado
across the southern half of Kansas, where it gave 3 to 5 inches
Cumulus Studies ~54-
‘of rainfall in many places. It may have been dependent on the
silver-iodide nuclei generated near Albuquerque between July
18 and 21 and in central Arizona between July 19 and 21.
‘‘Furthermore, the heavy rains that spread throughout New
Mexico from July 9 to 13 before the start of Project Cirrus
seeding experiments appear to have depended on silver-iodide
seedings in Arizona on July 5 and 6.
‘Tt is very important that regular tests on certain selected
days of each week be carried out throughout the year, using
amounts of seeding agents just sufficient to obtain conclusive
statistical data as to their effectiveness in producing widespread
rain. It is to be expected that the results will vary greatly in
different parts of the country, because of the changes in synoptic
situations.’’
The significance of the two test projects at New Mexico is thus apparent.
They indicated not only the possibilities of silver-iodide seeding from the ground,
but they suggested a widespread effect on the weather of the nation. And, asa
result, the project conducted some experiments in periodic seeding which were
destined to have a profound--and controversial--significance.
VU - PERIODIC SEEDING
NEW MEXICO WORK
By this time, a rather close liaison had been established with Dr.
Workman and his co-workers at the New Mexico School of Mines. So,
in view of the significance of Langmuir’s analysis of the effects and
possibilities of silver-iodide ground seeding, and in order to test as
soon as possible his ideas on periodic seeding, a schedule of operations
on this basis was estiblished without further ado at New Mexico.
Starting in December, 1949, a silver-iodide ground-based gener-
ator was operated in New Mexico by the project on a schedule so planned
as to introduce, if possible, a seven-day periodicity into the weather
cycles of the nation. This schedule of regular weekly periodic seedings
used about 1000 grams of silver iodide per week, and it continued with
a few modifications until the middle of 1951.
Data were gathered by Falconer, and almost immediately Langmuir
found evidences of a definite weekly periodicity in rainfall in the Ohio
River Basin. Again, he conducted an exhaustive analysis of the facts and
performed elaborate mathematical calculations to determine the prob-
abilities that these variations in weather could have taken place by pure
chance.
He reported his findings and his conclusions to the National Academy
of Sciences, October 12, 1950 to the American Meteorological Society of
New York City on January 30, 1951 (25). and also to the New York Academy
of Sciences on October 23, 1951.(24) He pointed out that, during 1950,
there was a marked and statistically highly significant seven-day perio-
dicity in many weather elements. The significance was So high, said he,
that it could not be explained on the basis of chance; it could not have
occurred anyway from natural causes. It involved not only rainfall but
also pressure, humidities, cloudiness, and temperatures over much of
the United States.
In his paper to the New York Academy of Sciences, (24) Langmuir
said:
“‘Almost immediately, that is, during December 1949 and
January 1950, it was noted that the rainfall in the Ohio River
Basin began to show a definite weekly periodicity. A conven-
ient way of measuring the degree of periodicity was to calcu-
late the correlation coefficient CC between the rainfall on the
successive days during a 28-day period, with the sine or the
cosine of the time expressed as fractions of a week, the phase
being taken to be O on Sundays.
Periodic Seeding -06=
‘Just before the start of the periodic seedings, the corre-
lation coefficient CC(7) based on the seven average values for
the successive days of the week of the 28-day period amounted
to only 0.28, but in the next 28-day period the value of CC(7)
rese-to,0 017
*“Table I gives the average rainfall in inches per station
day during 140 days at 20 stations designed as Group A in the
Ohio Valley Basin, representative of an area of about 600,000
Square miles, The successive rows correspond to five succes-
Sive 28-day periods. It will be noted that the average rainfall
on Monday was 0.272", whereas on Saturday it was only 0.064",
a ratio of 4.3:1 The next to the last column gives CC(28), the
periodic correlation coefficients for each 28-day period, and
the last column gives the phases in the successive periods.
Taking the 35 separate values for the 4-week averages given
in the table, one gets CC(35) = 0.689 with a phase of 1.60 days.
This result is statistically highly significant.
*“These periodicities in rainfall were evident at almost
any set of stations in the northeastern part of the United States.
Table 2 gives the rainfall on successive Tuesdays and Saturdays
during a 12-week period during the winter of 1949-1950 at Buffalo,
Wilkes-Barre, and Philadelphia. This periodicity is almost the
Same as that found in the Ohio River Basin but with a one-day
phase lag. The striking contrast between the total rains on
Tuesdays and Saturdays runs parallel to the total number of
days on which rains of 0.1" or more occurred on Tuesdays and
on Saturdays.
‘‘Maps have been prepared giving for 24 successive 28-day
periods the distribution of correlation coefficients, CC(28),
among 17 subdivisions of the United States, these data being
based on daily weather reports of 24-hour rainfall at 160 sta-
tions. During the first five 28-day periods there were always
several adjacent subdivisions that showed high weekly perio-
dicities in rainfall. After May 1950, however, the periodicities
became somewhat sporadic, although highly significant perio-
dicities over large areas still occurred during more than half
of the periods after July 1950. Presumably the large amount of
commercial silver-iodide seeding in the western states (not done
with a weekly periodicity) masks the effects of the periodic
seedings in New Mexico. By a map, the areas were shown in
which known seeding operations have been carried on in 1951.
~<a
Periodic Seeding -57-
‘In 15 states west of the 95° W meridian (excluding Texas)
about 550,000 square miles of 37 per cent of the total area of
these states were under Seeding contracts during 1951.
‘‘Maps for the months from December 1949 through July
1950, taken from the Monthly Weather Review, illustrated the
distribution of abnormally large rainfalls over the United
States. The heavy rains nearly always occurred in a band ex-
tending from the southwestern to the northeastern states.
*‘An analysis of the periodicity in the rainfall induced by
periodic seeding was presented in a paper read October 12,
1950 before the National Academy of Sciences. The areas
having a high weekly periodicity were generally the same as
those showing the highest abnormalities in rainfall. Such ~
heavy rains can only occur if the winds and the barometric
pressures cause an adequate supply of moisture to flow from
the Gulf of Mexico. The periodicities in the pressure differ-
ences between Corpus Christi and Jacksonville were studied.
During the first 140 days after seeding began, there was a
highly significant weekly periodicity indicating a periodic air
flow from the Gulf.
‘The upper air temperatures, even up to the stratosphere,
showed a high weekly periodicity over more than half of the
United States. Nine stations representative of an area of
1,300,000 square miles gave 950 mb temperatures having. CC(28)
greater than 0.5. These data were published, in detail for
Chicago and in summary for eight other stations, in the Dec-
ember issue of “The Bulletin of the American Meteorological
Society’, and a statistical analysis was given which proved that
these periodicities were highly significant. Mr. William Lewis
and Mr. E. Wahl, Bull.Amer.Met.Soc.32:192-3 (1951), and Mr.
Harry Wexler, Chem.Eng. News 29:3933 (1951), maintained,
however, that these data on the periodicities in temperature
were not truly significant and similar weekly periodicities have
frequently occurred in the past.
‘The degree of periodicity in upper-air temperatures ob-
served in 1950 during April, July, and November shows a stat-
istical significance of a much higher order of magnitude than
those referred to by Lewis, Wahl, and Wexler. To illustrate
this, an analysis has been made of the temperatures at the
700 mb level at nine stations in the United States at the inter-
sections of the 80, 90, and 100° W meridians with the 35, 40,
and 45° N parallels.
Periodic Seeding -58-
‘‘The value of CC(28) at these nine points of intersection
ranged from 0.50 to 0.85. The area represented is 1.5 million
Square miles.
‘Recently we have extended this grid of regularly spaced
stations to include the intersections of the 45° N parallel with
the 70° W and 110° W meridians, these points giving CC values
of 0.66 and 0.65 respectively. The 30° N, 80° W intersection
just off Jacksonville, Florida, also gave a correlation of 0.65.
We thus have an area of two million square miles or 2/3 of the
area of the United States in which CC(28) exceeds 0.50 with a
mean value of €G(28) = 0.67.
‘‘We have also examined these periodicities at corresponding
points for preceding and for following periods. The 28-day per-
iod in May showed low correlations. On the other hand, the two
preceding periods gave highly significant values. Apparently
the high periodicity in the upper air temperatures started about
January 25, 1950 and continued on until about May 1, 1950, covering
an average area of about half of the United States.
‘‘For the nine points of intersection during a 28-day period
in April, 1950 the total variance of the temperature was deter-
mined by taking the total sums of the squares of the deviations
of these temperatures from their mean and dividing by 27, the
number of degrees of freedom. The data obtained in this way
are called the ‘total variance’. By multiplying these values for
each of the nine stations by the corresponding square of the cor-
relation coefficient CC(28), one obtains the ‘periodic component
of the variance’,
‘Exactly similar calculations were made for a 28-day period
in April, 1949 when there was no periodic seeding. The results
are given in Table 3. At each point the upper figure is the
‘periodic component of variance’ for the April, 1950 period,
and the lower figure is the corresponding value for April, 1949.
The average values for all these nine points show that the
‘periodic variance’ in 1950 was 18 times as great as in 1949.
‘‘Table 4 gives the corresponding values of the ‘residual
component of variance’ obtained by subtracting the ‘period vari-
ance’ from the ‘total variance’. These data then indicate how
all the other kinds of periodicities, beside the seven-day peri-
odicity, compared with one another in the two years. It will be
seen that there is only about 10 per cent difference between the
average variance of this type for 1950 and 1949.
Periodic Seeding -59-
‘It seems, therefore, that the temperature fluctuations in
1950 essentially differed from those in 1949 only in the super-
imposition of an extremely high seven-day periodicity.
‘Quite similar results have been obtained by detailed studies
of the upper air temperatures in July, 1950 and November, 1950,”’
As indicated in this extract, Langmuir’s conclusions were contested
by representatives of the United States Weather Bureau. Inasmuch as this
controversy developed in considerable proportions, it is discussed in a
later section of this report. (Page 77).
EASTERN WORK
In addition to the periodic seeding conducted in New Mexico, similar
seeding was initiated in the Schoharie Valley, New York and at the base of
Mt. Washington. An interesting result of the seeding at Mt. Washington was
observed by Joseph B. Dodge, who has charge of the Appalachian Mountain
Club lodges in the White Mountains for skiers and mountain climbers. Dodge,
who knew nothing of the seeding, pointed out that, judging by the maps of snow
coverage in Maine and New Hampshire, there were two bands of snow running
at a diverging angle in the direction of those two states and coming to a point
back at Mt. Washington. This was a season in which there was not much
Snow, but along the line of these two bands there had been exceptionally heavy
snow. The results of further study indicated that the lack of snow may have
been caused by overseeding, but that along the two lines of heavy snow there
had been just a light amount of seeding.
LATER PERIODICITY
Early in 1952, during the course of their normal analyses of weather
conditions throughout the United States, Falconer and Maynard again found
evidence of periodicity. Further study showed that the periodicity was on
a seven-day basis and that it progressed regularly from west to east. The
correlation coefficients were calculated by Maynard and found generally to
be of a very high order. For one 28-day period the correlation coefficient
was the highest so far obtained for the country as a whole.
It was thought possible that this phenomenon might be caused by a
corresponding periodicity in the commercial seeding going on in various
parts of the West. Inasmuch as the periodicity in the weather progressed
uniformly across the United States, it was possible to trace it ona map
back to a likely point of origin. The commercial seeding organization
active in that area was then asked by Schaefer for a schedule of its seed-
ing operations, which it willingly furnished. It was found that the commer-
cial seeding had a periodicity corresponding to that observed in the weather.
Periodic Seeding -60-
Langmuir, in analyzing the data thus obtained, observed that it would
be difficult to determine cause and effect. In other words, it would be dif-
ficult to know whether the periodicity in weather was caused by periodic
seeding or vice versa. For commercial seeding organizations do not seed ~
at any random time but rather choose for seeding those days when weather
conditions are propitious. If the conditions are ‘‘good’’ for the production
of rain, the operator seeds. As a result, although it might rain naturally,
the seeding may increase the quantity of rain--and it may produce rain
when none would have fallen naturally. On the other hand, if conditions
are not right for rain, the operator does not seed, for seeding will not pro-
duce rain except when meteorological conditions are suitable.
Meanwhile F. H. Hawkins, Jr., of the U.S. Weather Bureau, in the May
1952 issue of the Monthly Weather Review, called attention to the same per-
iodicity and stated that, as far as could be determined, no seeding which was
under way that spring could compare in periodicity with the marked spacing
of rainfall at that time.
Langmuir, however, examined the data on western seeding operations
and was able to show that the observed periodicity in weather conditions co-
incided with the schedule of commercial operations. He reported his findings
to this effect at the annual meeting of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics
in East Lansing, Michigan, on September 4, 1952,
VUI - HURRICANES AND FOREST FIRES
In addition to the normal studies and tests with which Project Cirrus
concerned itself, there were two additional activities in which it engaged
early in its history. One was a study of tropical hurricanes and the other,
an attempt to cause rain in a forest-fire area. Both took place in 1947.
HURRICANE STUDY
The hurricane study was planned by the various participating govern-
ment agencies for the purpose of determining whether seeding operations
could be carried out in such storms. These agencies hoped that the exper-
idence thus gained would permit the planning of further operations in the
future, with the hope of possibly steering or in other ways modifying trop-
ical hurricanes.
It was planned to study a ‘‘young’’ storm as Soon as possible after
it had assumed the form of a hurricane. A group of General Electric per-
Sonnel was requested to act as consultants on these operations by the
chairman of the project’s Operations Committee.
After a week of intensive organization and briefing, both groups were
maintained in “‘stand-by’’ position, but the season progressed for some time
without any suitable storms occurring. Finally on October 10, 1947 word was
flashed from Miami, Florida, that a storm was forming below Swan Island
in the Caribbean Sea. ae
Plans were immediately activated, and the next evening the project’s
two B-17’s were at Mobile, Alabama. The storm had traveled with such high
speed, however, that by that time it was crossing Florida. The unit flew
to MacDill Field, Florida the next day, joining forces with the 53rd Weather
Reconnaissance group. Plans were laid for take-off early in the morning ”
of October 13. The storm was expected to be from 300 to 400 miles east
of Florida by that time.
The following account of the observed features of the storm, the seed-
‘ing operation, and observed effects was prepared by Lt.Com. Daniel F. Rex,
at that time chairman of the Operations Group;(77)
‘*The storm consisted of an eye approximately 30 miles
in diameter, surrounded by a thick wall of clouds extending
from about 800 feet up into the cirrus overcast at 20,000 feet
and being some 30-50 miles thick radially. Several decks (4
or 5) of stratified shelf clouds extended out from the outer wall,
the upper-most deck having tops at 10,000 feet. These shelf
clouds appeared as large areas (100-200 square miles) of solid,
thin (1000-2000 feet thick) undercast, separated by large breaks
through which the surface was often visible. An exceedingly
Hurricanes and Forest Fires =O74=
‘active Squall line, appearing as an almost continuous line of
cumulonimbus with cirrus tops to an estimated 60,000 feet,
was observed as a Spiral extending out from the center-base
at 20,000 feet near the outer wall, lifting to 35,000 feet at the
edge.
‘‘Approach to the storm center was effected from the south-
west, this course bringing the group into the storm’s right rear
quandrant. After a brief reconnaissance flight around the outer
wall, the decision was made to seed a track over the uppermost
cloud shelf and at a distance from the center sufficient to permit
the control aircraft to fly contact 5000 feet above the seeding air-
craft.
‘‘A formation intrail was used, with the seeding aircraft (B-17
No. 5560) leading at cloud top level. The photoreconnaissance air-
craft (B-17 No. 7746) followed the seed ship, 3000 feet above and
1/2 mile astern, with the control aircraft (B-29 No. 816) trailing
5000 feet above and 15-20 miles astern.
‘Seeding commenced at 29.8 degrees North, 74.9 degrees
West at 11:38 EST at an altitude of 19,200 feet, the outside air
temperature being approximately -5°C. Continuous seeding was
effected along a straight course to 30.2 degrees N, 73.9 degrees
W, thence to 30.8 degrees N, 73.1 degrees W, at which point (12:08
EST) seeding was stopped. During this 30-minute period 80 pounds
of solid carbon dioxide was dispensed along the 110-mile track.
In addition, two mass drops of 50 pounds each were made into a
large cumulus top at 30.7 degrees N, 73.4 degrees W.
“Upon completion of this phase, all planes flew a reverse
course back along the seeded track, taking visual and photographic
observations. No attempt was made to penetrate through the wall
of the storm into the eye or to seed in or near the above-mentioned
squall line, owing to the failure of the graip’s homing aids (radio,
compass, and visual flares). It was thought that such an attempt,
although desirable, would likely result in a separation of the air-
craft, with subsequent abortion of the primary mission.
‘‘Visual observation of the seeded area Showed a pronounced
modification of the cloud deck seeded. No organized trough was
observed; rather, the overcast previously observed appeared as
an area of widely scattered snow clouds. The disturbed area cov-
ered perhaps 300 square miles. No convective activity was seen
to follow the seeding process at any time during the mission.’’
Hurricanes and Forest Fires =O5—
In addition to this account by Rex, the following brief conclusions
were prepared, after the test, by Schaefer, who carried on observations
from the B-29:(79)
**1, Many suitable clouds for seeding operations occur
in this type of hurricane.
‘<2. The seeding operation produced an area showing snow
showers and stable snow clouds with light rain in the above-freezing
region. The stable snow clouds covered considerable area and
might have persisted long enough to affect other supercooled
clouds. I concur with the estimate of Commander Rex that about
300 square miles showed modification due to seeding operation.
**3. The region where profound effects might have been pro-
duced was in the extremely active squall line mentioned by Com-
mander Rex. This was not attempted for the reasons indicated.
*‘4. No build-ups were seen following the seeding operation.
This was to be expected, owing to the thin character of the super-
cooled clouds along the seeding path.
**5. Owing to the complex structure of this ‘old’ storm, it
is believed that a ‘young’ hurricane would provide much more
satisfactory data for estimating the effect of seeding operations.
**6, The operation pointed out the importance of making
future studies a part of the hurricane reconnaissance program.
Experimental seeding should be made by a group quite familiar
with the structure of the particular storm, stationed in fairly
close proximity, so that a number of forays would be made in
rapid succession.
*‘While the hurricane study project secured important in-
formation and provided excellent training for the Project Cirrus
personnel, the time required for planning such an operation and
in analyzing the data raises the question of whether the results
justify further activities of this kind by this particular group
until the urgent and much simpler operations are completed
at Schenectady.”’
Hurricanes and Forest Fires -64-
Langmuir made some interesting observations with regard to the nature
of the hurricane. (12) Speaking of the results of the seeding test, he said:
‘‘The main thing that we learn from this flight is that we
need to know enormously more than we do at present about hur-
ricanes,’’
He concluded:
‘Tt seems to me that next year’s program should be to
study hurricanes away from land, maybe out considerably
beyond Bermuda, out in the middle of the Atlantic....I think
the chances are excellent that, with increased knowledge, I
think we should be able to abolish the evil effects of these
hurricanes.”’
OPERATION RED
On October 29, 1947, a flight operation was carried out in Vermont and
New Hampshire. At that time severe forest fires were raging uncontrolled
in various parts of New England. Although it was not the policy of Project
Cirrus to carry out such a widespread operation, it was felt that it would
be worth the additional effort required to make such a flight for the exper-
ience to be gained, particularly since it would be possible to use Schenectady
as the base of operations.
The flight was well planned from an operational point of view, but the re-
sults were not spectacular, because of the absence over much of the area of
suitable clouds--contrary to a forecast the previous day. Instead of encoun-
tering a cloud deck at 18,000 feet as indicated by the forecast, the top of the
stratus was about 10,000 feet, with isolated cumulus reaching a maximum of
about 14,000 feet.
Seeding operations were carried out by two B-17’s, the one normally
in use by Project Cirrus and another furnished by Major Keating of Olmsted
Field of the Signal Corps Weather Squadron. The site of operation was over
some of the stratus near Montpelier, Vermont, and in the cumulus develop-
ments. Practically all of the latter showed the effect of seeding after five
to eight minutes. Subsequent reports indicated the development of some
fairly intense local showers along the flight path.
The next day word was received from Alan Bemis of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology Radar Research Group that there had been a sudden
increase in radar echoes in the vicinity of Concord, New Hampshire shortly
after the seeding runs. Fortunately Bemis had learned of the proposed op-
erations and had made it a point to obtain complete radar coverage of the
Hurricanes and Forest Fires “65s
area in which the two planes operated. He subsequently supplied the Op-
erations Group with a reel of 35-mm film of the radar scopes as recorded
by his group on October 29.
The results obtained by the radar group under Bemis emphasized
to the members of Project Cirrus the effectiveness of this type of instru-
mentation as an adjunct to their cloud-modification studies. It raised the
hope that a close relationship between the two research groups might be
effected.
In the opinion of Langmuir the result was inconclusive, because
scattered showers began to form that day, starting in about one or two
hours before Project Cirrus seeded.
IX - CO-OPERATION WITH OTHER PROJECTS
It was only natural that the activities of Project Cirrus should stim-
ulate others to undertake experiments in cloud seeding. Naturally, consid-
erable publicity resulted from Schaefer’s historic snow-making flight over
Pittsfield in November, 1946. The fact that the Research Laboratory of the
General Electric Company was involved took the affair out of the class of
cheap sensationalism and provided a background of authenticity that pro-
voked the interest of scientists and weather students the world over, as
well as others with varying motives of interest. Continuing publicity of
further General Electric and Project Cirrus weather research and exper-
iment caused further interest. Many inquiries were received asking for
information in general, and assistance in particular, in connection with
specific projects. No attempt will be made to list all of these, but some
are of particular interest.
PINEAPPLE RESEARCH INSTITUTE,
HONOLULU, HAWAII
On March 24, 1947, a request for dry-ice seeding techniques was
received from the Pineapple Institute of Honolulu, Hawaii. Although the
records do not show it, presumably the information was needed because
of the importance of rain on pineapple growing in Hawaii, and the Insti-
tute wanted to keep abreast of any developments.
At any rate, available information was supplied by Project Cirrus.
Later newspaper accounts were received at Schenectady describing ex-
periments carried out over the island of Molokai in 1947 by Dr. Luna
B. Leopold and Mr. Maurice Halstead. Still later, copies of a prelim-
inary report ) were received from these men, describing interesting
results obtained by dumping dry ice into cumulus clouds having a tem-
perature above the freezing point.
Particular interest attaches to this activity, because the result of
Leopold and Halstead prompted Dr. Langmuir to restudy some theoretical
calculations he had prepared in 1944 at Mt. Washington. As a conse-
quence, he developed his famous theory of the chain reaction of a rain-
storm described‘on a precéeding page (page 43).
MILLIKEN & FARWELL
MOBILE, ALABAMA
For two or three seasons somewhere about 1947 or 1948 inter-
esting experiments were conducted in the cloud seeding of thunderstorms
with dry ice by the firm of Milliken & Farwell, a sugar company of Mo-
bile, Alabama. Activities concentrated on big cumulus clouds in the
neighborhood of the Mississippi delta.
Co-operation with -68-
Other Projects
Information was requested from Project Cirrus, and Langmuir co-
operated actively. He later reported very interesting results. He says
the photographs taken are the best he had ever seen.
UNITED FRUIT COMPANY, HONDURAS
On preceding pages (starting on page 39) an account is given of the
work done by Joe Silverthorne in seeding clouds for the United Fruit Com-
pany in Honduras. This work was carried on for the purpose of testing
out the possibility of controlling rainfall, and particularly in the hope of
stopping blow-downs that result from winds associated with thunderstorms,
which occasionally destroy large stands of fruit trees.
Langmuir visited Honduras in 1948 and 1949 and co-operated actively
with Silverthorne. His observations convinced him of the effectiveness of
Single pellets of dry ice in modifying large cumulus clouds; almost always
the clouds could be profoundly modified with single pellets. (21)
NEW YORK CITY WATER SHORTAGE
This famous case received a great deal of publicity. In order to keep
the record straight as to what happened and the part played by Project Cirrus,
a brief account of the case, as told by Langmuir, is incorporated.
Although the work was done by and for New York City independently,
it was another case of General Electric having some connection with the
activity. When Langmuir presented a paper on weather modification to
the American Meteorological Society in New York in 1950, New York was
in the midst of a water shortage. Ata news conference associated with
the AMS meeting,newsmme asked Langmuir if seeding could be of any use
in alleviating New York’s water shortage. He replied that he knew noth-
ing about New York; his only experience had been in the West.
The newsmen then asked what Langmuir would advise for New York.
He replied that the best thing for New York to do would be to get a good
meteorologist and have him look into it. That advice was reported by the
New York Herald Tribune. Later, when the supply of water was becoming
less and less, this paper ran an editorial saying that things were getting
desperate and that it was up to the city to do something about it. Seeding
was mentioned in the editorial, and also Langmuir’s advice to get a good
meteorologist.
As a result, Stephen Carney, then New York’s water commissioner,
got in touch with Langmuir and arranged for a meeting. Carney and two
others visited Schenectady. Schaefer recommended Wallace E. Howell,
Co-operation with -69-
Other Projects
director of the Mt. Washington Observatory, who had been actively associ-
ated with Project Cirrus and the General Electric scientists even before
the project started. Howell’s services were retained as a result.
Howell’s experiments have never been published, and opinions vary
about the results obtained. An interesting result was a group of lawsuits
totaling in the neighborhood of $2,000,000. The possibility of such suits
had been mentioned in the general discussions which preceded the actual
seeding, and at that time Langmuir had commented that it would be entirely
possible that such suits would be cheap compared with the results which
might be obtained. The city, he said, had already been committed to spend
$600,000,000 to add from 20 to 30% more water to its available supply,
and if they could get as little as 20% more water by seeding, it would be
worth the $600,000,000 and any interest on it.
COMMERCIAL SEEDING IN THE WEST
A tremendous amount of interest in the possibilities of controlling
precipitation was aroused in the West, especially in the great agricultural
regions where an adequate supply of water is highly important anda
drought can have catastrophic consequences. Many co-operative groups
of water users were formed, and organizations sprang up for the purpose
of engaging in cloud seeding on a commercial basis. At the time of writing
(May, 1952), some 350 million acres of the United States west of the Miss-
issippi were subject to cloud seeding by commercial operators, according
to current estimates (News release, James Stokley, for release May 12, 1952).
Although many private individuals have undertaken to do their own
seeding, most of this work has been done by a small number of commercial
organizations. Topping the list is the Water Resources Development Corp-
oration, with offices in Denver, Colorado, and Pasadena, California, whose
rainmaking contracts were reported to cover an area of over 300 million
acres, or about 12 times the area under irrigation in the United States.
‘‘Farmers and ranchers paid millions of dollars for the services of this
organization, which contemplates extending its operations to Central Amer-
ica, South America, South Africa and Europe.’’** Others include the Pre-
cipitation Control Company, Phoenix, Arizona; North American Weather
Consultants, Pasadena, California; Olson & Taylor Corporation, Shelby,
Montana; and Wallace E. Howell Associates, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
*Page 2, Senate report #1514 (5/12/52) on ‘‘Creating an Advisory Com-
mittee to Study and Evaluate Experiments in Weather Modification.’’
Co-operation with -70-
Other Projects
So many and so active are the organizations for this purpose, that
there has been some concern over the effects of introducing such quantities
of silver iodide into the atomosphere. Studies by the Research Group of
the project indicated that silver iodide can continue in the atmosphere for
an almost indefinite period, and although its usefulness can be modified by
sunlight, the practical effects of such modification are not significant when
the silver iodide is within or below the clouds. Finally, the analyses and
calculations of Langmuir (page 55 et seq.), indicate that periodic silver-
iodide seeding in New Mexico produced a tendency toward periodic rainfall
and temperature fluctuations that extended significantly all over the United
States.
A Currently, some members of the Research Group feel that there is a
definite possibility that some abnormal flood conditions of recent years have
been caused, at least to a contributing degree, by commercial seeding oper-
ations in the West.
In addition to the commercial operators, who seed for the benefit of
others, at least one electric power company has done extensive work in this
field. This is the California Electric Power Company of Riverside, Cali-
fornia. This company’s use of seeding stems from its concern over an
adequate supply of water to operate its hydroelectric: generating stations.
Not only does it credit the seeding with increasing its hydroelectric out-
put by many millions of kilowatt-hours, but it also declares it has produced
thousands of extra acre-feet of water for the city of Los Angeles.
Interesting cloud-seeding experiments were also conducted by John
A, Battle, consulting meteorologist of Beaumont, California, in California,
for the San Diego County Weather Corporation and the Santa Ana River
Weather Corporation. The experiments were conducted over the entire
‘area of San Diego County plus the Santa Ana River drainage area in Orange,
Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. The two corporations responsible
represented various water agencies in those regions, where the relative
scarcity of water makes any possibility of increasing the annual rainfall
attractive.
Silver iodide was used in the seeding. Unseeded areas were used for
control zones, in comparison with seeded areas. About 20 per cent more
rain fell in the target area than in the control area; in other words, 1,400,000
acre-feet of additional water. Statistical analyses indicated that the chances
that the cloud seeding did not have a positive effect on the precipitation meas-
ured varied anywhere from 12-to-1 to 10,000-to-1, depending on the area
involved.
Co-operation with -71-
Other Projects
WORK OF OTHER GOVERNMENTS
Active research in cloud seeding has been carried on in many for-
eign countries. Again, the work was stimulated by the reports of success-
ful tests made by Project Cirrus, and in virtually all cases the foreign
work was based on information either obtained by direct contact with
Project Cirrus or through the study of published data.
Among the foreign countries engaged in such work are Canada,
Cuba, Peru, England, France, Switzerland, Israel, Algeria, Tanganyika,
Union of South Africa, Formosa, Japan, and Australia. (Schaefer has
reports covering some of these operations.)
X - CONCLUSION
Contract DA36-039-sc-15345 (the last of a series) terminates Sept-
ember 30, 1952, after a little over five years of the active life of Project
Cirrus as a government-sponsored activity. By that time all the early
exploratory phases of cloud seeding and allied research concerned with
the physics of clouds were virtually complete. So many other research
projects had been stimulated that continued progress in the search for
new basic knowledge of weather phenomena Seems assured.
OVER-ALL RESULTS
It is not, of course, easy to predict the ultimate results of the
work done by Project Cirrus. But it seems certain that the pioneering
and spectacular work of the General Electric scientists in cloud physics,
cloud seeding and weather modification will eventually have a profound
influence on domestic and world economics.
Says the report accompanying S.2225 (footnote page 69):
“Tf practical, weather control promises tremendous
benefits for a small investment. Research work in the
field involves no test plants or production facilities and
very little expensive equipment. The seeding agents, car-
bon dioxide or silver iodide, are inexpensive, yet when used
in small quantities they apparently produce weather phenomena
of the highest magnitude. If these phenomena cause only a
Small increase in precipitation, this small increase can be
economically important.
*fAn inch of rain, converted into runoff and concentrated
into a reservoir, can produce electric power worth hundreds
of thousands of dollars. A small fraction of an inch of extra
rain, falling on crops during the period of germination, can
greatly increase crop yields. But artificial nucleation may
have useful potentialities in addition to that of stimulating
rainfall. It may have possibilities for increasing snowpack
in mountainous areas, for holding back and ‘softening’ rain-
storms, thereby reducing soil erosion, for inhibiting hail, for
breaking up hurricanes, and for precipitating out and thereby
cutting holes in clouds so that aircraft can operate.’’
Some of the possibilities inherent in cloud seeding as evaluated
by Project Cirrus scientists follow:
Widespread Weather Modification. The results of the various New
Mexico tests, coupled with observations of the effects of other ground
seeding with silver iodide, point to significant possibilities in the
Conclusion -74-
widespread modifying of weather conditions. Such work could easily have
profound economic, political, and military effect.
Modifying Orographic Clouds. Orographic clouds, which form as
moist air is forced to rise when it encounters a barrier such as a mountain
range, are very common in mountainous regions, and they often form contin-
uously for many days. Relatively little precipitation from them reaches the
earth, except as rime deposits on trees and rocks or as scattered snow
crystals. If techniques could be devised to cause a widespread and effective
precipitation of such clouds, the depth of the snow pack in the vicinity of
mountains might be markedly increased. Such a result would be of much
importance, since the snow pack on mountain slopes is very valuable in
stabilizing the streams which flow from such regions. These streams, in
turn, have great Significance from a standpoint of electric power and water
supply. The work done by the California Electric Power Company (page 70)
is an important contribution to this knowledge.
Producing Regions of Ice Nuclei. The production of specific regions in
the free atmosphere containing high concentrations of ice nuclei or potential
ice nuclei is an interesting possibility. Cold middle clouds, even though having
no appreciable moisture, may be used as ‘‘holding reservoirs’’ to store ice
crystals until they come into contact with lower clouds of greater thickness
or are entrained into cool or cold cumulus.
An example of this type of seeding occurred during the hurricane seeding
project in October, 1947 (page 61). A relatively thin layer of stratus clouds
covering an area of nearly 300 square miles was transformed to snow crystals.
The subsequent fate of the crystals is still a moot question, but if a considerable
region of them was entrained into the lower levels of a line of towering cumulus
observed during the flight and situated in the southeast quandrant of the storm,
the entrainment might have exercised a profound effect on the subsequent
development of those cumulus clouds.
Similarly, the ice crystal residue from seeded, but small, cumulus clouds
may be entrained at a low level into much larger cumulus ferming in their vici-
nity. In this way, an effect of considerable magnitude is produced as the super-
cooled regions are infected at a lower level than would otherwise be possible.
It will take much careful study to establish methods for utilizing this
type of seeding. Eventually, it may become of great importance,
Modifying Stratiform Clouds. The widespread modification of stratus
clouds by artificial means is possible at the present time whenever such clouds
are Supercooled. Under such conditions, the clouds may be either further
stabilized by overseeding, or precipitation may be triggered by using the op-
timum number of ice nuclei.
Conclusion =O=
Observed results of the seeding of stratus clouds indicate that holes
can be cleared in them by this method, which is bound to be of value in
aircraft operations.
Modifying Supercooled Ground Fogs. Supercooled ground fogs formed
by advection or radiation may be modified and even dispersed if care is
exercised to prevent overseeding. Too high a concentration of ice nuclei
introduced into such fogs might actually make the fogs worse.
The prevention of the formation of ice fog is another possibility
from the proper manipulation of seeding techniques. By introducing an
optimum number of sublimation nuclei into the air in regions where such
fogs are troublesome, it may be possible to continuously remove from the
air the moisture responsible for the formation of this interesting but of-
ten troublesome type of ground fog.
The ice crystals generated in the vortices of airplane propellers
plus the moisture added to the air by the combustion exhaust of the plane
are the causes which generally lead to the formation of ice fogs at air-
ports. Whether the removal of supersaturation with respect to ice by
seeding methods will be of sufficient magnitude to prevent the ice-fogging
effects produced by plane operations can be determined most conclusively
by actual experiment.
Protection of Aircraft. There is no question about being able to
modify icing clouds in the vicinities of airports and along heavily traveled
air lanes. The problem rather, is whether it may have a practical appli-
cation. Low clouds which restrict visibility for landing approaches around
airports, thick clouds in which planes must cruise as they wait for per-
mission to land, and thick clouds which might deposit a serious icing load
on the plane as it tries to climb up through them--these comprise hazards
to safe plane operations. And when such clouds are supercooled, they may
be profoundly modified.
The simplest means for carrying out such cloud modification would
be to employ a plane well equipped for flying under serious icing condi-
tions for patrolling the air lanes. The plane would report weather and
cloud conditions and, whenever serious supercooled clouds occurred,
would carry out seeding operations.
In flying through a supercooled cloud, the airplane itself may pro-
duce a fairly effective modification. The vortices which form at the
trailing edges of the wings and particularly from the propeller tips form
large numbers of ice crystals.
Conclusion -(6=
Modifying Orographic Thunderstorms. It may be possible that silver-
iodide seeding from ground generators would be particularly useful in mod-
ifying orographic ‘‘towering’’ cumulus to prevent their growth into thunder-
storms. By determining the air trajectory from the ground into the cold
part of the cloud, potential ice nuclei may be sent aloft by a very simple
procedure. If subsequent experiments indicate that it is important to seed
such clouds at a temperature only a few degrees colder than the freezing
point, it may become necessary to use dry ice dispensed from planes or
carried into the clouds by free balloons or projectiles.
Modifying Towering Cumulus. Towering cumulus also forms over
flat country at times when the atmosphere is conditionally unstable. Dan-
gerous and often deadly lightning strokes, torrential rains, destructive
winds, and sometimes hail and tornadoes are the end products of such
developments. Since the high, vertical thickness of a supercooled cloud
seems to be the basic requisite in the formation of a thunderstorm, it may
be quite feasible by proper seeding methods to prevent this phase from
developing.
The manner in which the seeding is done may produce a wide vari-
ation in the end results obtained. By seeding each cumulus tower with
large numbers of crystals shortly after it rises above the freezing level,
the cloud would be continuously dissipated and no extensive regions of
supercooled cloud could develop. On the other hand, it might be desirable
to seed such clouds to realize the maximum possible energy release. This
presumably would involve seeding each cumulus tower just previous to
the point of its maximum development. If this could be done effectively,
it might be possible to build the storm into a much larger one than would
develop under natural conditions.
Preventing Hail. The possibility that hailstorms might be prevented
by seeding techniques is of considerable economic importance. A great
amount of basic information is needed on the various properties of storms
that produce hail. In some parts of the country where severe hail damage
is frequent, storms are formed over certain mountain ridges and peaks
that serve as cloud breakers. Such clouds should be particularly suited
for modification by ground generators, since the air trajectory is definitely
related to the flow of air up the mountain and into the clouds.
APPARENT LIMITATIONS
As in any of the physical phenomena, there are definite limitations
to the degree in which experimental meteorology may be employed in mod-
ifying clouds in the free atmosphere. Some of these apparent limitations
may disappear as our knowledge increases, although most of the restrictions
now recognized are imposed by known physical laws.
Conclusion -77-
Fair Weather Cumulus. Foremost of these restrictions is the factor
of cloud type and size. Certain clouds, such as the fair-weather cumulus,
have such a small volume and restricted area that, even though they are
easily modified when supercooled, their total liquid-water content is incon-
sequential. Another complicating factor is that the air below larger clouds
is sometimes So dry that a considerable amount of precipitation evaporates
before it reaches the ground.
Warm Ground Fog. Another type of cloud which is difficult to modify
is the warm ground fog formed by radiation or advection. Such fogs are
often extensive and of considerable economic importance, especially from
the standpoint of airplane traffic control. But the natural structure ofa
fog precludes any simple method of modifying it. Generally, the vertical
thickness is not more than 100 meters or so, with a cloudless sky above. .
This rules out the possibility of modifying from above by forming precip-
itation in higher clouds to ‘‘rain out’’ the fog. (But supercooled ground
fogs may be modified, as explained on page 75.)
Drought. Another weather situation where no method of relief is
now apparent is in the case of drought. This condition generally results
from the stability of a complex weather pattern in a manner which, at
present, is not very well understood. Drought is generally accompanied
by either cloudless skies or clouds of small vertical and horizontal devel-
opment, because of strong inversions or thick layers of dry air.
Convergence. The development of convergence is an important
feature in the formation of appreciable amount of rainfall in many parts
of the world. As a rule, such developments are generally accompanied
by the occurrence of natural precipitation, which continues So long as
the convergent movement is present. About the only thing that artificial
modification of clouds might do under such atmospheric conditions is
to initiate the precipitation cycle a few hours before it would start nat-
urally, or under some conditions, to delay the onset of precipitation by
overseeding.
CONTROVERSIAL ASPECTS
As is so often the case with the proposal of striking or revolu-
tionary new concepts in science, the validity of the observations and
conclusions of the members of the Research Group, both before and
after the establishment of Project Cirrus, was challenged by many.
As a result, quite a school of opposing thought has been built up. This
is a normal, healthy condition of affairs in a free economy, and the
results would be of no particular consequence were it not for the fact
that the possibilities inherent in artificial weather modification have
such great economic and military significance.
Conclusion -78-
Although criticism and challenge have by no means been confined to
any one person or group, the spearhead of the opposition, so to speak, has
been the United States Weather Bureau. This unit has kept a watchful eye
on all the developments associated with Project Cirrus. In many cases
it designated observers to work with the project on specific operations.
It has conducted experiments of its own, to test the validity of Project
Cirrus findings, notably the Cloud Physics Project, jointly conducted by
the Weather Bureau and the United States Air Force.
The running controversy between representatives of the Weather
Bureau and Dr. Langmuir is summarized in an article(26) available in
his office files at The Knolls. In it Langmuir discusses and answers the
various criticisms and challenges. He summarizes the importance of
the situation in the following paragraphs.
‘‘The possibility of such wide-scale control of weather
conditions, of course, offers important military applications,
but since nearly all meteorologists are much influenced by
the opinions and the attitudes of the Weather Bureau men,
the opposition on the part of the Weather Bureau and other
groups has, up to the present, prevented the starting of any
military applications.
‘Tt was, therefore, of the utmost importance to clear
this matter up without getting too much publicity. It is
largely for this reason that no detailed accounts of the evi-
dence in favor of the reality of the wide-scale effects have
been published....’’
Langmuir has since explained orally that, in view of this situation,
he has resorted to the use of publicity only when other methods of bringing
matters to a head had failed. At the time of the preparation of this report,
however, both he and the other scientists associated with Project Cirrus
had begun to feel that the opposition was beginning to ‘‘see the light’? and
that it would only be a matter of time before the Weather Bureau would
change its attitude. It is believed that the results obtained by the Cali-
fornia Electric Power Company (page 70) have had a great deal to do with
that change of attitude.
Some picture of the Weather Bureau side of the controversy may be
found in testimony 93 presented during hearings before Senate subcommittees
on three bills, as follows:
S.5, a bill to provide for research into and demonstration
of practical means for the economical production, from sea or
other saline waters, or from the atmosphere (including cloud
formations), of water suitable for agricultural, industrial,
Conclusion BO i=
municipal, and other beneficial consumptive uses, and
for other purposes.
8.222, a bill to provide for the development and reg-
ulation of methods of weather modification and control.
S. 798, a bill to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture
to conduct research and experiments with respect to methods
of controlling and producing precipitation in moisture-
deficient areas.
The attitude of the Weather Bureau is summarized in a statement
presented to the above groups on March 14, 1951, by W. F. McDonald,
assistant chief of the United States Weather Bureau, and a further clari-
fication of Weather Bureau views is found in the subsequent questioning
of Mr. McDonald by members of the committees.
The fact that the challenges to the validity of Project Cirrus claims
are not confined to the Weather Bureau is also indicated during the same
Senate hearings. Statements were made at those hearings by other indi-
viduals not associated with the Weather Bureau, and some of those individ-
uals did not agree with the findings of Project Cirrus. Among them were
Hans H. Neuberger, professor of meteorology and chief of the Division
of Meteorology, Pennsylvania State College, and Charles L. Hosler, a
staff member of that college; and Henry G. Houghton, professor of meteor-
ology and head of the Department of Meteorology, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
LEGIS LATION
For various reasons, national legislation has been suggested, and
actually introduced, to regulate and control artificial weather modification.
Of the three bills referred to in the preceding paragraphs, two (S.222 and
S.798) specifically covered this proposed regulation and control (S.222)
and authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct research and ex-
periments (S.798).
Since that time a new bill was drafted and introduced in the Senate,
82d Congress, second session: 8.2225. This bill would create a tempor-
ary advisory committee of nine persons to study and evaluate experiments
in weather modification, continuing no longer than July 30, 1955. The com-
mittee would report to Congress at the earliest possible moment on the
advisability of the Government regulating, by means of licenses or other-
wise, the activities of persons attempting to modify the weather. The ad-
visory committee would consist of five members appointed from public
Conclusion -~80=
life by the President plus the secretaries of Defense, Interior, Agriculture,
and Commerce, or their designees, The bill was referred to the Committee
on Interstate & Foreign Commerce on October 8, 1951, and reported out
with amendments on May 12, 1952.
The General Electric attitude toward legislation was summed up at
the above hearings by Vice President and Director of Research, C. G. Suits,
and by Schaefer and Vonnegut, who accompanied him to the hearings. Said
Suits, in part:
‘“These facts which underlie experimental meteorology
are not in the controversial area; they have been demonstrated
and proven. What controversy has arisen has been concerned
with such matters as (1) the economic importance of induced
rainfall--by ‘induced rainfall’ I mean artificially induced rain-
fall--(2) whether long-range effects of cloud seeding exist,
and (3) whether induced rainfall may not have occurred nat-
urally in the absence of seeding. There is a great mass of
information bearing on these questions, and it would not be
possible to discuss it all here.
‘Tt is my considered opinion, however, that the results of
the most recent work are of the very greatest importance to the
Nation. We have at hand a means of exerting a very considerable
degree of control of weather phenomena. Precisely how much
control can be accomplished will come from further study. Much
work remains to be done, and it would be a national tragedy if
legislation did not provide a proper frame work for developing
the full potentialities of weather modification methods. It would
be hard to imagine anything more important to the country than
weather modification and control.’’
Another extract from the Suits statement:
‘I wish to be very clear on one point. The work my com-
pany has done in this field, initially at our own expense and more
recently under a Signal Corps contract with the participation
of the Office of Naval Research and the United States Air Force,
has had no single practical application within the Company. The
work originated as an unexpected result of one of the many fun-
damental investigations which we undertake in the search for
. new knowledge. It was continued because the leaders of my com-
pany and responsible representative of the Government believed
that the possibilities of weather modification might be of great
importance to the Nation as a whole. On December 27, 1950 my
Conclusion =Sil=
‘company announced that for the present and until further
notice it does not intend to enforce any of its patents re-
lating to weather modification by the artificial production
of snow and rain.
‘‘A contractor of the Government for research in this
field, where the general public is the Intended beneficiary,
should not be subjected to the uncertainties of legal liability
hazards which are inherent in experimental weather modifi-
cation. The provisions of 8.222 would greatly minimize the
legal hazards which now exist. Some such solution of this
problem must be found if private agencies are to engage in
research in this field, and by that I mean under contract
with the Government.’’
Other aspects of the need for legislation were voiced at that time
by Schaefer. The following quotes from his statement illustrate these
other aspects:
“Tt is very important, in my opinion, that weather
studies involving experimental meteorology be conducted
in such a manner that all of the modifications attempted
by man-conducted seeding operations be known and con-
trolled. If this is not done, the effort of attempting to -
understand the reactions which occur is a hopeless one...
‘It is obvious that some type of national legislation
is of the utmost importance at this time to protect the
public in the future from unscrupulous individuals who
would play on the gullibility, hope, or desperation of in-
dividuals or groups in need of water or other relief from
an undesirable climatic situation.”’
Vonnegut, also, in his statement read at those hearings, urged
the adoption of suitable legislation. In addition to the reasons voiced
by Suits and Schaefer, he added others, which are found in the follow-
ing extract:
*“The problems of weather control are so large and
of such Nationwide importance that only Federal legisla-
tion can insure that this powerful new tool will result in
the greatest good for the largest number of people. In the
absence of this legislation, I believe that the development
of the benefits to be derived from cloud seeding may be
Conclusion -62-
‘greatly retarded or prevented and that possibly much harm
can result from storms, droughts, or floods produced by un-
controlled seeding. |
‘‘Theory has predicted and experiments are confirming
the fact that a few pounds of silver iodide released into the
atmosphere in the form of fine particles can exercise a pro-
found influence over the weather hundreds d miles away from
the point of release. Clearly no private individual or group
can be permitted to carry on operations likely to affect weather
conditions over thousands or hundreds d thousands of square
miles.
‘*The potentialities, both for good and bad, which attend
silver-iodide seeding are so large that the development and
use of this technique must be placed in the hands of the Fed-
eral Government.
‘Secondly, it is highly desirable that the Government
pass laws regulating cloud seeding, in order to promote the
rapid development of this science. Many facts are yet to be
learned concerning the best methods of seeding to obtain
desirable results. These facts can be determined only by
experiments in the atmosphere. The analysis of the results
of cloud-seeding experiments is a complicated and difficult
problem. If, as in the case at present, many Seeding ex-
periments are being independently and simultaneously carried
out in many places, the problem of analysis becomes even more
difficult and frequently impossible. Federal regulation is nec-
essary to insure the rapid development of the benefits: of
cloud seeding.
‘‘Thirdly, the science of weather control can be of such
great benefit to the entire country that the responsibility
for its advancement must rest with the Government. Legis-
lation should provide funds for research by Government and
by private groups into fundamental scientific problems con-
nected with the weather.”’
At the time of the preparation of this history, no national legislation
had yet been enacted to cover any of the needs outlined in the foregoing.
Conclusions -83-
REFERENCE LITERATURE
A wealth of information, published and otherwise, is available to pro-
vide further details of the various aspects of this project as covered in
this history, and most of it is listed in AppendixIV. Some of this information
accompanies this report in the form of various appendices--either because
the information is so closely associated with history that it should become,
at least to that extent, a part of it, or because it would be difficult to refer
to otherwise.
A summary of other types of supplemental information follows:
1. Government Reports. The various quarterly, final, and occasional
reports made by the General Electric Company to the Government summarize
the work conducted under various Government contracts. These reports have
all been printed and are available in General Electric libraries and files.
2. Articles & Papers. Many articles and papers have been prepared
by members of Project Cirrus, especially members of the Research Group,
for printing in periodic publications or for delivery before scientific and
other bodies. Some of these, covering significant developments or making
helpful summaries of progress but not specifically included in the reports
to the government, are listed in Appendix IV.
3. Laboratory Records. A further wealth of detailed information is
to be found in the normal records of the Research Laboratory. In partic-
ular, the notebooks maintained by the individual workers in the project can
be consulted. In addition to these are the reports of the Steering Committee
and the Operations Group of Project Cirrus, copies of some or all of which
are in the possession of Langmuir, Schaefer, and Maynard. Still other infor-
mation can be obtained from letterbooks, contract folders, and accounting
records.
4, Langmuir’s Records. A great deal of pertinent information has
been gathered together by Langmuir as the basis of his various analyses
and mathematical calculations, particularly in connection with his running
controversy with the Weather Bureau. One such collection 26) has already
been mentioned. Another17) is a collection of unpublished letters and
reports on the general subject of the seven-day periodicity in the weather
during 1950. Both of these documents are to be found in Langmuir’s office
files at The Knolls.
oe
Appendix |
Alphabetical List of Personnel
Mrs. Margaret Bakuzonis, GE
Raymond Bellucci, civilian mathematician
S/Sgt. C. S. Belote, USAF, radio operator
S/Set. Roy E. Berry, USAF, crew chief
George Blair, GE
Duncan Blanchard, GE
Major D. Blue, USMA
1st Lt. Mitchell B. Bressette, USAF, navigator
Vincent Bruck, Signal Corps photographer
Robert C. Bulock, Signal Corps
Major E. Cartwright, USAF
Theodore Catellie, Signal Corps photographer
Capt. Clarence N. Chamberlain, Jr., USAF, pilot
T/Sgt. Vernon H. Davis, Signal Corps Supply Sgt.
M/Set. Eugene R. Dickson, USAF, crew chief
Mrs. Analee Durant, secretary
Robert F. Egger, AL2, USN, radio and radar operator
Raymond Falconer, GE
Lt. Cdr. Elwood B. Faust, USN pilot
Charles S. Ferris, civilian electrician
Victor Fraenckel, GE
S/Sgt. Russell C. Friedl, USAF crew chief
lisp int, Carl Jd. Pubrmann, USA pilot
Myer Geller, GE
Miss Constance Godell, secretary
m/5 Cue, Hallissienal Corps driver.
Cpl. Francis N. Ham, Signal Corps driver
ii Cdr, Bake Harrison, UsNitpilor
list Lt, Ted E. Hoffman, USAFE pilot
T/Set. C. E. Hughey, USAF crew chief
Thomas J. Hurley, Signal Corps photographer
Lt. J. W. ller, USN pilot
Cpl. Billy G. Jackson, Signal Corps photographer
Cpl. Ernst S. Johnson, Signal Corps photographer
T/Sgt. Martin M. Kalich, USAF radio operator
John Kelly, Signal Corps civilian technician
Major Rudolph C. Koerner, Jr., Signal Corps
Cpl James W. Land, Signal Corps Supply Set.
Dr. Irving Langmuir, GE
William Lewis, U.S. Weather Bureau cons.
Appendix I
206
Kiah Maynard, GE
AERM1 E. R. Millan, USN aerologist
S/Sgt. H. E. Millett, USAF crew chief
Landon Morris, Signal Corps photographer
Raymond L. Neubauer, GE
S/Sgt. J. H. Niven, USAF radio operator
William N. Perry, ADC, USN pilot
Capt. John A. Plummer, USAF pilot
Harold Pontecorvo, Signal Corps photographer
Alexander Preede, Signal Corps photographer
T/Sgt. William M, Ratcliffe, USAF crew chief
Carl R. Remscheid, AG1, USN aerologist
Lt. Cdr. Daniel F. Rex, USN
Edward Rudzik, AD3, USN engineer
AERMI1 R. F. Rayan, USN aerologist
Capt. Michael A. Sbarra, USAF pilot
Dr. Vincent Schaefer, GE
Lt. Cdr. Paul J. Siegel, USN pilot
Robert Smith-Johannsen, GE
Donald Southard, Signal Corps photographer
Samuel Stine, Signal Corps
George Swistak, Signal Corps photographer
ACMM Adam Szepkowsky, USN chief
Lt. Gdr, C, EB. Tilden, UsN
Lt. David D. Tracy, USAF navigator
Ist Lt. Henry W. Tutt, USAF pilot
Dr, Bernard Vonnegut, GE
Howard J. Wells, AGC, USN aerologist
CAERM G. B. West, USN, aerologist
Roger Wight, Signal Corps (civilian)
Capt. Carl F. Wood, USAF pilot
Charles Woodman, GE
APPENDIX II
Project Cirrus Unnumbered Flight Tests
Date Location Operation
11/13/46 Pittsfield DI seeding
Taye) Schenectady DI seeding, isolated cumulus
11/29 Schenectady DI seeding, isolated cumulus
12/20 Schenectady DI seeding
3/6/47 Schenectady DE seeding
S/T Schenectady DE séeding
Bye Schenectady DE seeding
4/7 Schenectady DE seeding
5/8 Schenectady DI and SI seeding
8/5 Schenectady Instrument Check
8/6 Schenectady Instrument Check
8/7 Schdy-Westover, Mass. Weighing
8/11 Schenectady Instrument calibration
8/13 West Point DI and SI seeding
8/15 Schenectady SI seeding
8/18 Schenectady Instrument check
8/20 Schenectady Instrument check
8/21 Schdy-Indian Lake DI and SI seeding
8/25 Schenectady DI and SI seeding
8/27 Schenectady Instrument check
8/28 Schenectady Instrument check
8/29 Schenectady Instrument check
9/19 Schenectady Dry run for hurricane
9/25 Schenectady Instrument check
9/30 Schenectady Instrument check
OAT Schenectady Tracing SI
10/10 Schdy-Mitchell Field Hurricane study
10/11 Olmstead, Pa.-Brookley, Ala. Hurricane study
O12 Brookley-McDill, Fla. Hurricane study
10/13 Florida Hurricane study
10/14 MeDill-Olmstead, Pa. Hurricane study
OVALS Olmstead-Schdy Hurricane study
5/31/48 Schenectady Water drop tests, pumping
6/2 Schenectady Water drop tests, balloons
10/18 Schenectady DI seeding
1/30 Schenectady Stereoscopic camera test
12/14 Schenectady Info. Flight #3 - balloon soundings
Observation - tie-in with
Ground Operation #75
2/7/50 Boston-Schenectady
Appendix II
Numbered Test Flights
Flight
Number Date
OMAN OUHLWNH
9/11/47
10/29
Location
Schenectady
New Hampshire
Olmstead,Pa; Brookley,Ala.
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Middletown, Pa.
Schenectady
Schenectady
-38-
Sacanadaga Reservoir
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Cape Cod
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Off New Jersey Coast
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Lake George
Glens Falls
Catskill N.Y.
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Operation
DI seeding
Forest-fire seeding; Oper. Red
Water seeding
Racing SI
SI seeding
DI seeding
DI pattern seeding
DI seeding
None
Servicing
DI pattern seeding
DI pattern seeding
Training
DI seeding
DI pattern seeding
DI seeding
DI pattern seeding
DI seeding
DI seeding
DI seeding
DI pattern seeding
Observation
DI seeding--MIT project
Seeding
Water seeding
Nothing
DI pattern seeding
DI seeding
DI cumulus seeding
Water seeding
DI seeding
DI and water seeding
DI seeding
DI and water seeding
DI seeding
Water seeding
Water seeding
DI and water seeding
DI seeding
DI and water seeding
Water seeding
Appendix II
Flight
Number
Date
9/16
9/22
10/12
10/14
10/13
10/14
11/15
11/16
11/17
11/23
11/24
11/24
-89-
Location
Schenectady
Lake George
Albuquerque, N.M.
Albuquerque, N.M.
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Fast of Albany
Schenectady
Schdy and Amsterdam, N.Y.
Schdy and Rome, N.Y.
Schdy-NW of Albany
S of Utica
N of Schenectady
E of Albany
Albany & East
W of Coxsackie
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
S of Lake Ontario
Sprakers, N.Y.
Albany
W of Syracuse
Ines IDibs, IN GIES es seSiablrcial
Schenectady
Schdy -Rome-Middletown-
Amsterdam
E of Albany
Schenectady
Albany vicinity
Schenectady
Schenectady
Operation
Calibration
Photography
Water ice and DI seeding
SI and DI seeding
Water ice and DI seeding
Water ice seeding
DI seeding --pattern
DI seeding --pattern
DI seeding --pattern
DI pattern seeding
DI pattern seeding
DI pattern seeding
DI pattern seeding
DI seeding
DI seeding
SI & DI seeding; pattern
DI seeding; pattern
DI seeding; pattern
survey
Survey & water seeding
Water seeding
Survey
Water seeding
Survey
Survey
Survey
Survey
Survey
survey
DI & SI seeding; pattern
Temperature soundings
SI seeding; pattern
DI seeding
Testing vortex thermometer
Temperature soundings
Testing cloud meter; photo.
Testing vortex thermometer
DI pattern seeding
DI pattern seeding
Testing vortex thermometer
DI seeding
Appendix II
Flight
Number
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
se
100
Location
Schenectady
West Point & return
Schenectady
Rome, N.Y. & return
Schenectady
Schenectady
Ashokan Reservoir
Schenectady
Schenectady
Little Falls & Rome
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schdy-Rome & return
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Ballston Spa
Winchester, Vt.
Schenectady
Schenectady
Albuquerque, N.M.
Albuquerque, N.M.
Albuquerque, N.M.
Albuquerque, N.M.
Albuquerque, N.M.
Albuquerque, N.M.
Albuquerque, N.M.
Albuquerque, N.M.
Albuquerque, N.M.,
Albuquerque, N.M.
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
E. of Schdy
Schenectady
Operation
SI pattern seeding
Testing vortex thermometer
Instrument testing
Observation
Testing condensation nuclei meter
Instrument testing .
DI seeding
Instrument testing
Instrument testing
Instrument testing
Instrument testing
Instrument testing
Testing condens. nuclei counter
Instrument check
Testing vortex thermometer |
Testing vortex thermometer, high altituc
Salt water seeding
DI seeding
Instrument test
Instrument test
DI seeding
DI, liquid CO, & water seeding
DI & liquid CO, seeding
DI seéding
DI & SI seeding
DI seeding
SI ground & DI air seeding
SI ground & DI air seeding
SI ground & DI air seeding
SI ground & DI air seeding
Observing ground seeding
Observing ground seeding
Observing ground seeding
Observing ground seeding
Observing ground seeding --tie-in
Gd: Op, #13
Testing vortex thermometer
Testing vortex thermometer
Testing vortex thermometer --tie-in
Gd. Op. #16
DI seeding; Gd. Op. #17
Temperature Sounding; Gd. Op. #24-25
Appendix II
Flight
Number Date
23 10/13
124 10/18
5) 10/17
ILS) 10/24
127 Tsib/AL
128 LLL)
129 AAG
130 Hal alee
Ss 1/6
WZ, 11/30
33 1/30
134 LAyak
5) PY Ne
136 12/15
Si 12/16
138 1/4/50
139 1/20
140 1/30
AR 1/30
142 Oe
143 2/6
144 DMO
145 2/20
146 2/28
147 2/28
148 3/3
149 8/17
150 3/20
ISL 3/21/50
Iz By 22,
ILS) 4/10
154 4/12
155 4/18
156 4/19
Ney 4/25-26
158 5/8
159 5/28
160 6/6
161 6/23
162 6/26
ale
Location
Schenectady
Schenectady
Rome
Albany
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schdy-Indianapolis
Indianapolis -Schdy
Schenectady
Schenectady
Cape Cod
Mt. Washington
Schdy-Mt. Washington
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schdy-Dayton, O.
Dayton-Schdy
Schenectady
Schdy-Amsterdam
Schenectady
Schenectady
Schdy -Boston-Bangor-
Massena -Rochester-
Schdy
Mt. Washington
N of Schenectady
E Troy & Albany
Albuquerque, N.M.
Albuquerque, N.M.
Operation
Instrument testing; Gd. Op. #26
Observation
Temperature soundings; Gd. Op. #34
Observation
Temperature soundings; Gd. Op. #34
Observation; FO-39
GO-41
GO-42
Instrument test; GO-41
Instrument test; GO-46
Instrument test & Weather Observation
Instrument test; GO47-48
Calibrating vortex therm; GO-53-54
Snow replicas; vortex therm; GO-55
DI seeding; joint with MIT
SI detection; GO-63
Instrument check; DI seeding
Snow replicas; GO-71
Calibrating vortex therm.; GO-71
DI clear-air seeding
Snow replicas; vortex thermometer
Photos; snow replicas
Clear-air seeding
DI seeding; snow replicas
DI seeding; snow replicas
Attempted vapor trails
Instrument Calibration
Snow replicas
Weather reconnaisance
Weather reconnaisance
Snow replicas
SI seeding; GO-83
Observation
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
DI clear-air seeding
DI seeding
DI cumulus seeding
DI cumulus seeding
Appendix II -92-
Flight
Number Date Location Operation
163 6727 Albuquerque, N.M. DI cumulus seeding
164 6/27 Albuquerque, N.M. DI cumulus seeding
165 6/28 Albuquerque, N.M. DI cumulus seeding
166 6/29 Albuquerque, N.M. DI cumulus seeding
167 6/30 Albuquerque, N.M. DI cumulus seeding
168 Vic Albuquerque, N.M. DI cumulus seeding
169 5 Albuquerque, N.M. Tracing gd. SI; DI seeding
LAO 1/6 Albuquerque, N.M. Tracing gd. SI; DI seeding
qa ol Albuquerque, N.M. DI seeding
he 7/8 Albuquerque, N.M. DI & SI seeding
Ts vival Albuquerque N.M.- Gathering weather data
Burbank, Calif.
ARS oe Ae Burbank-Gt.Falls,Ont. Gathering weather data
aS TANS) Gt. Falls-Schdy Gathering weather data
176 10/26 Mt. Washington DI seeding (joint)
eT 5/15/51 Mt. Washington SI seeding (joint)
178 4/8 Schenectady: SI & DI seeding
179 4/24 Schenectady Observation
180 5/9 Schenectady DI, Liquid CO,, & SI seeding
181 Sy Alls Schenectady DI & SI seeding
Number Date
OMA OPW HOF
3/8/49
3/28
4/6
6/6
7/2
7/24-29
8/23
8/25
8/30
3/31
9/7
9/8
9/20
9/21
9/22
9/27
9/28
9/29
10/4
10/5
10/5
10/6
aLOV/Alak
10/12
10/12
10/13
10/18
10/19
10/20
10/20
10/25
10/26
10/27
HAL /AL
172
11/3
11/8
11/9
11/10
11/15
=93-
PROJECT CIRRUS - APPENDIX III
Ground Operations
Location
Schdy Co. Airport
sichdy. Con Airport
Sehdy Co. Airport
Sehdy Co. Airport
Schdy Co. Airport
Albuquerque, N.M.
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schdy Airport
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schdy Airport
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schdy Airport
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Sehdy Airport
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Operation
Cloud photography (still)
Cloud photography (still)
Cloud photography (still)
Cloud photography (still)
Lapse-time movies
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding--tie-in Flight #117
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding --Flight #120
SI seeding--Flight #121
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
Lapse-time movies
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding --Flight #122
Lapse-time movies
SI seeding--Flight #1238
SI seeding--Flight #124
SI seeding
Lapse-time movies
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding--Flight #127
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding--Flight #128
SI seeding
Appendix ITI
Number
Date
11/16
dty/g
al,/22
11/23
11/29
11/30
loyal
eal
12/2
12/6
12/7/49
13/8
12/13
12/14
12/15
12/20
12/21
12/22
12/27
12/28
12/29
1/3/50
1/4
1/5
1/10
1/11
AD
1/16
1/25
1/36
1/30
1/31
Oil
2/2
2 fal
2/8
2/9
2/14
2/16
27/2
S/T
Aye
4/24
Location
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schdy Airport
Schdy Airport
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schdy Airport
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schdy Airport
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schoharie Valley
Schdy Airport
Schdy Airport
Schdy Airport
-94-
Operation
SI seeding--Flight #129, 131
SI seeding--Flight #130
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding--Flight #132, 1338
SI seeding--Flight #134
Lapse-time movies
Lapse-time movies
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding--Flight #135
SI seeding --Flight #135
SI seeding --Flight #136
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding--Flight #138
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
Lapse-time movies
SI seeding
SI seeding
Still photos; Flight #140, 141
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding--F light unnumbered
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
SI seeding
Lapse-time movies
Lapse-time movies; Flight #154
Still photos
NOs:
PROJECT CIRRUS - APPENDIX IV
Bibliography of Reference Literature
Dunean Blanchard
(1) ‘‘Observations on the Behavior of Water Drops at Terminal Velocity
in Air’’; Project Cirrus Occasional Report #7 (November 1, 1948).
(2) ‘‘The Distribution of Raindrops in Natural Rain’’; Project Cirrus
Occasional Report #15 (November 15, 1949).
(3) ‘‘The Use of Sooted Screens for Determining Raindrop Size and
Distribution’’; Project Cirrus Occasional Report #16 (November
15, 1949).
(4) ‘‘Experiments with Water Drops and the Interaction Between Them
at Terminal Velocity in Air’’; Project Cirrus Occasional Report #17
(December 15, 1949).
B. M. Cwilong
(5) ‘‘Sublimatim in a Wilson Chamber’’; Nature, Vol. 155, p. 361 (1945).
Raymond E. Falconer
(6) ‘fA Method for Obtaining a Continuous Record of the Type of Clouds
in the Sky During the Day’’; Project Cirrus Occasional Report #8
(March 1, 1949).
(7) ‘Some Correlations Between Variations in the Atmospheric Po-
tential Gradient at Schenectady and Certain Meteorological Phe-
nomena’’; Project Cirrus Occasional Report #18 (December 1, 1949).
LTJG W..E. Hubert and H. J. Wells, AGC, U.S. Navy
(8) ‘‘Periodic Fluctuations in the Ohio Basin Moisture Balance’’, Pro-
ject Cirrus Occasional Report #26 (January 15, 1951).
(9) ‘Seven-day Periodicity in Upper-air Temperatures Induced by
Localized Silver -iodide Seeding’’; Project Cirrus Occasional Re-
port #27 (January 15, 1951).
(10) ‘Concentration of Ice-crystal Nuclei Under Various Weather
Conditions’’; Project Cirrus Occasional Report #28 (June 15, 1951).
-96-
Appendix IV
Bibliography
Irving Langmuir
(11)
‘Supercooled Water Droplets in Rising Currents of Cold Saturated Air’’;
Research Laboratory Report No. RL-223 (October 1943-August 1944).
(11A) ‘‘Memorandum on Introduction of Ice Nuclei Into Clouds’’; never pub-
(12)
(16)
ay)
(20)
(21)
(22)
(23)
lished but available in Research Laboratory Library (August 16, 1946).
“The Growth of Particles in Smokes and Clouds and the Production of
Snow from Supercooled Clouds’’; Proc.Amer.Phil.Soc., Vol.92, p.167
(July 1948).
*‘The Production of Rain by a Chain Reaction in Cumulus Clouds at Tem-
peratures Above Freezing’’; Jour.Met., Vol.5, p.175 (October 1948).
‘Studies of the Effects Produced by Dry-Ice Seeding of Stratus Clouds’’;
Project Cirrus Occasional Report #10 (December 31, 1948).
“‘Larger-scale Seeding of Stratus and Cumulus Clouds with Dry Ice’’;
Abstract of Am.Met.Soc. paper (January 25, 1949).
“Outline of Progress in the Evaluation of Cloud Modification Techni-
ques’’; Memorandum for Office Use (early 1950).
Miscellaneous Letters and Reports (‘‘Seven-day Periodicity in the
Weather During 1950’’; ‘‘Study of Periodicity in Rainfall Due to Silver-
iodide Seeding in New Mexico’’; ‘‘Supplementary Remarks in Relation to
the Tables and Figures’’); Folder prepared for Office Use (1950).
*‘Progress in Cloud Modification by Project Cirrus’’; Project Cirrus
Occasional Report #21 (April 15, 1950).
““A Gamma Pattern Seeding of Stratus Clouds, Flight 52, and a Racetrack
Pattern Seeding of Stratus Clouds, Flight 53’’; (with C.A. Woodman)
Project Cirrus Occasional Report #23 (June 1, 1950).
‘‘Results of the Seeding of Cumulus Clouds in New Mexico’’; Project
Cirrus Occasional Report #24 (June 1, 1950).
‘Studies of Tropical Clouds’’; Project Cirrus Occasional Report #25
(July 1, 1950).
‘‘Control of Precipitation from Cumulus Clouds by Various Seeding Tech-
niques’’; Science, Vol.112, p.35 (July 14, 1950-Res. Lab. reprint-1730).
‘‘Cause and Effect Versus Probability in Shower Production’’; Project
Cirrus Occasional Report #22 (July 15, 1950).
BOs
Appendix IV
Bibliography
(24) ‘Cloud Seeding by Means of Dry Ice, Silver lodide, and Sodium
Chloride’’; Trans.N.Y.Acad.Sci., Vol.14, p.40 (November 1951 -
Res. Lab. reprint-1885).
(25) ‘“‘A Seven-day Periodicity in Weather in the United States During
April 1950’’; Bull.Amer.Met.Soc., Vol.31, p.386 (December 1950 -
Res. Lab. reprint-1781).
(26) ‘*‘Widespread Modifications of Synoptic Weather Conditions Induced
by Localized Silver-iodide Seeding’’; Prepared in January 1951 and
never published.
L. B. Leopold and M, H. Halstead
(26A) “‘First Trials of the Schaefer-Langmuir Dry-ice Cloud-seeding
Technique in Hawaii’’; Bull. Amer.Met.Soc., Vol.29, No.10, p.525
(December 1948).
Vincent J. Schaefer
(27) ‘*A method for Making Snowflake Replicas’’; Science, Vol.93,
p.239 (March 1941).
(28) ‘‘Making ‘Fossil’ Snowflakes’’; Schen.Mus.Topics, Vol.1, p.8
(July 1941 - Res. Lab. reprint-1104).
(29) ‘‘A Method of Making Replicas of Snowflakes, Ice Crystals, and
Other Short-lived Substances’’; Mus.News, Vol.19, p.11 (Septem-
ber 1941).
(30) ‘‘Use of Snowflake Replicas for Studying Winter Storms’’; Nature,
Vol.149, p.81 (January 17, 1942 - Res. Lab. reprint-1121).
(31) ‘‘An Air Decelerator for Use on De-icing Precipitation Static and
Weather Reconnaissance Planes’’; Report never published but avail-
able in Schaefer’s office files (January 1945).
(32) ‘“The Preparation and Use of Water-sensitive Coatings for Sampling
Cloud Particles’’; Report never published but available in Schaefer’s
office files (April 1946).
(32A) ‘‘Final Report on Icing Research’’; available in Research Lab-
oratory files (August 8, 1946).
_98-
Appendix IV
Bibliography
(33) ‘‘The Production of Ice Crystals in a Cloud of Supercooled Water Drop- <
lets’’; Science, Vol.104, p.457 (November 15, 1946 - Res. Lab. reprint-
TSH)
(34) ‘‘Properties of Particles of Snow and the Electrical Effects They Pro-
duce in Storms’’; Trans.AGU, Vol.28, p.587 (August 1947 - Res. Lab
reprint-1434).
(35) ‘*‘Heat Requirements for Instruments and Airfoils During Icing Storms
on Mt. Washington’’; Trans.ASME, Vol.69, p.843 (November 1947 -
Res, Lab. reprint-1445).
(36) ‘‘The Production of Clouds Containing Supercooled Water Droplets or
Ice Crystals Under Laboratory Conditions’’; Bull.Amer.Met.Soc., Vol.29,
p.175 (April 1948 - Res. Lab. reprint-1502).
(37) ‘‘A New Plane Model Cloud Meter’’; (with R. E. Falconer), Project
Cirrus Occasional Report #2 (May 15, 1948).
(38) ‘The Natural and Artificial Formation of Snow in the Atmosphere’’;
Trans.AGU, Vol.29, p.492 (August 1948 - Res. Lab. reprint-1532).
(39) ‘*Types of Solid Precipitation in Snowstorms’’; Weatherwise, Vol.1,
p.6 (December 1948 - Res. Lab. reprint-1582).
(40) ‘‘Methods and Techniques for the Study of Atmospheric Nuclei, Clouds,
and Precipitation’’; Abstract of Am.Met.Soc. paper (January 25, 1949).
8
(41) ‘*‘The Detection of Ice Nuclei in the Free Atmosphere’’; Project Cirrus
Occasional Report #9 (February 1, 1949).
(42) ‘*The Possibility of Modifying Lightning Storms in the Northern Rockies’’;
Project Cirrus Occasional Report #11 (February 1, 1949).
(43) ‘*‘The Formation of Ice Crystals in the Laboratory and the Atmosphere’’;
Chem.Rev., Vol.44, p.291 (April 1949 - Res. Lab. reprint-1601).
(44) ‘‘Report on Cloud Studies in Puerto Rico’’; Project Cirrus Occasional
Report #20 (January 15, 1950).
(45) ‘*The Occurrence of Ice-crystal Nuclei in the Free Atmosphere’’;
Project Cirrus Occasional Report #20 (January 15, 1950).
-O)0\2
Appendix IV
Bibliography
(46) ‘‘A Confirmation of the Workman-Reynolds Effect’’; Phys.Rev.,
Vol.77, p.721 (March 1, 1950 - Res. Lab. reprint-1690).
(47) “The Occurrence of Ice-crystal Nuclei in the Free Atmosphere”’;
Proc.lst Nat.Air Pollution Symposium (March 1950 - Res. Lab.
reprint-1698).
(48) ‘Induced Precipitation and Experimental Meteorology’’; Trans.NY Acad.
S¢i., Vol.12, p.260 (June 1950 = Res. Lab. reprint-1745).
(49) ‘“‘Experimental Meteorology’’; Journ.Appl.Math.&Phys., Vol.1, p.153
(l950°=Res. Lab. reprint=1 706):
(50) ‘“*The Effects Produced by Seeding Supercooled Clouds with Dry Ice
and Silver Iodide’’; Cent.Proc.Roy.Met.Soc., p.42 (1950 - Res. Lab.
reprint-1748).
(51) ‘“‘Effect of Sunlight on the Action of Silver-iodide Particles as Subli-
mation Nuclei’’; (with B. Vonnegut, S. E. Reynolds, and W. Hume), Bull.
Am.Met.Soc., Vol.32, p.47 (February 1951 - Res. Lab. reprint-1809).
(52) “Snow and Its Relationship to Experimental Meteorology’’; Comp.of
ee aViet ao 276 (Oat = Rest lab. reprint-le52)s
(53) ‘‘A Cmtinious Cloud Chamber for Studying Small Particles in the
Atmosphere’’; Project Cirrus Occasional Report #32 (March 1, 1952).
(54) ‘‘The Formation of Ice Crystals in Ordinary and Nuclei-free Air”’;
Project Cirrus Occasional Report #33 (March 1, 1952).
(54A) ““The Concentration of Ice Nuclei at the Summit of Mt. Washington’’;
Project Cirrus Occasional Report #35 (August 1, 1952).
Robert Smith-Johannsen
(55) ‘‘Some Experiments on the Freezing of Water’’; Project Cirrus
Occasional Report #3 (June 1, 1948).
Bernard Vonnegut
(56) ‘‘The Nucleation of Ice Formation by Silver Iodide’’; Jour.Appl.
Phys., Vol.18, p.593 (July 1947 - Res. Lab. reprint-1433).
-100-
Appendix IV
Bibliography
(57) ‘Nucleation of Ice Formation by Silver Iodide Particles’’; Supple-
mentary to First Quarterly Progress Report, Project Cirrus (Nov-
ember 15, 1947).
(58) ‘Influence of Butyl Alcohol on Shape of Snow Crystals Formed in the
Laboratory’’, Science, Vol.107, p.621 (June 11, 1948 - Res. Lab.
reprint-1522); Project Cirrus Occasional Report #5.
(59) ‘‘Smoke from Smelting Operations as a Possible Source of Silver-
iodide Nuclei’’; (with R. E. Falconer), Project Cirrus Occasional
Report #4 (June 15, 1948).
(60) ‘‘Production of Ice Crystals by the Adiabatic Expansion of Gas’’; Pro-
ject Cirrus Occasional Report #5 (September 15, 1948); Jour.Appl.Phys.,
Vol.19, p.959 (October 1948).
(61) ‘Nucleation of Supercooled Water Clouds by Silver-iodide Smokes’’;
Project Cirrus Occasional Report #5 (September 15, 1948); Chem.Rev.,
Vol.44, p.277 (April 1949).
(62) ‘Variation with Temperature of the Nucleation Rate of Supercooled
Liquid Tin and Water Drops’’; Project Cirrus Occasional Report #6
(October 15, 1948); Jour.Coll.Sci., Vol.3, p.563 (December 1948 -
Res. Lab. reprint-1567).
(63) ‘‘A Capillary Collector for Measuring the Deposition of Water Drops
on a Surface Moving Through Clouds’’; Rev.Sci.Instr., Vol.20, p.110
(February 1949).
(64) ‘‘Note on Nuclei for Ice Crystal Formation’’; Bull.Am.Met.Soc., Vol.30,
p.194 (May 1949 - Res. Lah. reprint-1610).
(65) ‘‘Silver-iodide S moke’’, Project Cirrus Occasional Report #13
(July 1, 1949).
(66) ‘‘Vortex Thermometer for Measuring True Air Temperatures and
True Air Speeds in Flight’’; Project Cirrus Occasional Report #14
(September 1, 1949); Rev.Sci.Instr..
(67) ‘*‘Continuous-recording Condensation Nuclei Meter’’; Project Cirrus
Occasional Report #19 (January 1, 1950); Proc.ist Nat.Air Poll.Symp.,
Vol.1, p.36 (March 1950 - Res. Lab. reprint-1711).
(68) ‘“Techniques for Generating Silver-iodide Smoke’’; Jour.Coll.Sci.,
Vol.5, p.37 (February 1950 - Res. Lab. reprint-1671).
-101 -
Appendix IV
Bilbiography
(69) ‘Experiments with Silver-iodide Smokes in the Natural Atmosphere’’;
Bull.Am.Met.Soc., Vol.31, p.151 (May 1950 - Res. Lab. reprint-1724).
(70) ‘‘Detection and Measurement of Aerosol Particles by the Use of an
Electrically Heated Filament’’; (with R. E. Neubauer), Project Cir-
rus Occasional Report #29 (September 1, 1951); Analytical Chemistry,
Vol.24, p.1000 (June 1952).
(71) ‘‘A Vortex Whistle’’; Project Cirrus Occasional Report #30 (Nov-
ember 1, 1951).
(72) ‘Recent Experiments on the Effect of Ultraviolet Light on Silver-
iodide Nuclei’’; (with R. E. Neubauer), Bull.Am.Met.Soc., Vol.32,
p.356 (November 1951 - Res. Lab. reprint-1894).
(73) ‘‘Spray-nozzle Type of Silver-iodide Smoke Generator for Airplane
Use’’; (with Kiah Maynard), Project Cirrus Occasional Report #31
(February 15, 1952).
(74) ‘‘Thin Films of Supersaturated Solutions for Detecting, Counting
and Identifying Very Small Crystalline Particles’’; Project Cirrus
Occasional Report #34 (April 15, 1952).
(74A) ‘‘Counting Large Sodium-containing Particles in the Atmosphere
by Their Spectral Emission in a Hydrogen Flame’’; (with Raymond
‘L. Neubauer), Project Cirrus Occasional Report #38 (October 1, 1952).
(74B) ‘‘Production of Monodisperse Liquid Particles by Electrical Atom-
ization’’; (with Raymond L. Neubauer), Project Cirrus Occasional
Report #36 (October 1, 1952).
(74C) “‘Effect of Halogens on the Production of Condensation Nuclei by a
Heated Platinum Wire’’; Project Cirrus Occasional Report #39
(October 1, 1952).
(74D) ‘‘Multiple-stage Dilution of Aerosols by Use of Aspirators’’; Pro-
ject Cirrus Occasional Report #37 (October 1, 1952).
-{748) “Ctoud Seeding’; Scientific Ameritean; Vork.186, pp17-21 (January 1952).
(74F) ‘The Science of Rainmaki me Technion Yearbook, Volo p.82
ng >
-102-
Appendix IV
Bibliography
Project Cirrus Reports
(75) First Quarterly Progress Report, July 15, 1947.
(76) Second Quarterly Progress Report, November 15, 1947.
(77) Third Quarterly Progress Report, February 15, 1948.
(78) Fourth Quarterly Progress Report, July 1, 1948.
(79) Fifth Quarterly Progress Report, September 15, 1948.
(80) Final Report, Contract W-36-039-SC -32427, December 31, 1948.
(81) Sixth Quarterly Progress Report, January 28, 1949.
(82) Seventh Quarterly Progress Report, March 15, 1949.
(83) Eighth Quarterly Progress Report, June 15, 1949.
(84) Ninth Quarterly Progress Report, September 15, 1949.
(85) Tenth Quarterly Progress Report, December 30, 1949.
(86) Eleventh Quarterly Progress Report, March 30, 1950.
(87) Twelfth Quarterly Progress Report, July 30, 1950.
(88) Thirteenth Quarterly Progress Report, October 30, 1950.
(89) Fourteenth Quarterly Progress Report, January 30, 1951.
(90) Fifteenth Quarterly Progress Report, April 30, 1951.
(91) Final Report, Contract W-36-039-SC-38141, July 30, 1951.
-103 -
Appendix IV
Bibliography -
Miscellaneous
(92) ‘‘Report of Cloud-seeding Experiments in the San Diego County and
the Santa Ana River Watershed’’; revised edition June 10, 1952, pub-
lished by John A. Battle, consulting meteorologist, Beaumont, Cali-
fornia.
(93) ‘‘Weather Control and Augmented Potable Water Supply’’; Extracts
from hearings before subcommittees of the committees on Interior
and Insular Affairs; Interstate & Foreign Commerce; and Agriculture
& Forestry; United States Senate, 82d Congress, First Sessions; on
SeOwoeacc, ands. oon Washington. DL ©. March i4s 15.16. 19. and
April 5, 1951; U.S. Government Printing Office.
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